From time to time indian imitations of
roman aurei appear on the market. For example
CNG sold a
collection about 2 years ago. The coins served for commercial use and for jewellery.
I could acquire one piece which copies an
aureus of my preferred emperor
Antoninus Pius combining the
obverse with a
reverse from
Faustina. Typical is the blundered
obverse legend (but consisting of a kind of letters) and the correct
reverse legend which looks as if it was intended. Was it to avoid troubles with
roman authorities when pretending an original coin by using the emperor´s name?
The
weight is 7,03 grams. (First picture)
Recently I saw another "
contemporary imitation" in an
auction which differs a lot (second picture). It seems to be
cast, has a different
style ( I would say cruder and more "Indian") and both
reverse and
obverse are of Antoninus´. The
obverse legend is completely blundered (only circles and strokes), but the
reverse is again almost correct. The
weight is only 6,24 grams which should have caused problems when the coin was used for trade, except the value was determined by its
weight.
Maybe this coin is not
contemporary (
still ancient, but later) and not even a coin but rather a piece of jewellery? I couldn´t find a similar piece so far except one, a copy of an
aureus of
Faustina, in Paula J. Turner´s "
Roman Coins from
India" (third picture). So I didn´t bid on it.
What do you think?
