Barbarous Radiates and other Imitatives of the Late
Roman EmpireI have posted comments on several New Ancient Coin Collector and ID
Help threads about the prevalence of imitatives and unofficial strikes in the late 3rd and early to mid 4th centuries AD. Other
members have asked for references for some of my comments. I started to look up the specific references for what I
had said and decided I needed to note it all down once and for all. In the end it seemed easier to combine my notes into this posting which I offer as an introduction to the subject. (For the sake of simplicity, I am using the term bronze throughout to refer to all copper alloys.)
The references in the text refer to pages in the following works:
D1 – Georges
Depeyrot, Le bas empire romain: Economie et
Numismatique (284-491).
D2 – Georges
Depeyrot, La monnaie romaine, 211 av JC – 476 apres JC.
DJ – Richard Duncan-Jones,
Money and Government in the
Roman Empire.
RR – Richard, Reese, The Coinage of Roman Britian.
Terminology
Although Barbarous Radiates (BRs) are perhaps the best known of the late Roman “bronze” imitatives, they are not the only
types. Indeed, the term Barbarous Radiates is an old one dating to 19th century numismatists and is a
poor choice for two reasons. First, given that there were three main phases of the mass production of imitatives in the late
Roman Empire, only the first of which involved copies of radiates (thus called because the Emperors on the obverses of these antoninianii all wore the
radiate crown), the term can not apply to all imitatives. Second, the original view that these coins were minted by the “barbarians’ beyond the
limes, or frontiers of Empire, is now discredited. Many clearly come from within the Empire.
The term Copies is not specific enough. There have been copies made from early
antiquity to the present day. It can also be read to imply that these coins are
counterfeit, which they are not really. Likewise, the longer term Unofficial Strikes is also not accurate since in some cases these coins were made with the approval of the local Roman administration, while in other cases they were made by usurpers. The term Semi-Official Strikes is better, but I personally find it unwieldy. Thus I have chosen to use the term imitatives. Instead of answering the questions of who issued them, how and for what purpose, the name describes the fact that they are strikes made to imitate official, regularly produced,
Roman coins.
Usage: Why Were These Imitatives Made?
The purpose of
Roman imitative coins has sparked many theories and much debate. In the 19th century, imitatives were seen as barbarian copies made by the barbarian tribes living beyond the Roman frontier. In the early 20th century, it was believed that many imitatives were made by the post-Roman Germanic kingdoms of Western Europe who crudely modeled their coins on those of their more civilized Roman predecessors. By the mid-20th century, imitatives were viewed mainly as
contemporary counterfeits made for profit. Even the late Roman
billon coins
had enough silver in them to make it profitable to melt them down, extract the silver, and re-coin the remaining copper. The “stolen” silver was pure profit to the counterfeiter. More recently, numerous scholars (including the three behind the books I am using for this article) have concentrated on the waves of imitatives which appear to be tied to shortages of officially produced small change.
According to this theory, the bronze imitatives of the late
Roman Empire were produced in order to fill a serious shortage of small change. (G1-p.46, DJ-p.22) The semi-monetized economy of Roman society required high value coinage, such as gold and silver, to pay
military and civil service salaries, taxes and to allow for the convenient transport of large sums. However, it also required small change. Markets, particularly in towns and cities, worked largely on a cash basis, unlike perhaps rural markets and village economies. This meant that small change (coinage
denominations which were small fractions of the silver
denarius) were required in large quantities. Silver was very inconvenient, and gold useless, for daily life.
Unfortunately, the official supply of small change, in the form of low
denomination bronze coinage broke down several times. The reason for these breakdowns could be an end to the production of a small change coin by official mints, or a conscious, or inadvertent, supply problem to some regions. The results were the same. Regions that did not have access to a sufficient supply of small change
met their needs by making their own, either through minting of new imitative coin, or, in a few cases, by physically cutting up large bronze coins. (DJ-p.22) These imitatives strikes ceased when the supply of officially produced small change resumed. (G1-p.46)
The
Aurelian Reforms
The “silver” coins of the 260s were in fact small change. The nominally silver antoninianii “radiates” were tiny and
had a silver content which was rapidly sliding to 2%. True small bronze coins were non-existent. Thus the antoninianii of
Gallienus,
Claudius II Gothicus and the Gallic usurpers
Postumus,
Victorinus, and the Tetrici, filled the role of small change. (RR-p.20)
The situation changed in the 270s.
Aurelian’s reformed
antoniniani, introduced in 274 AD, caused serious problems. Its value was too high. It may have been valued at 20 times the value of the tiny antoninaini then in use. (RR-p.48) Since no small
denomination was introduced at the same time, there was no longer any small change being struck. There was nothing being produced that could be easily used in the markets and bars.
The answer to this dilemma was simple. The old small radiates of
Gallienus,
Claudius II Gothicus and the Gallic usurpers were maintained in use to serve as small change. However, with no new supply of small change being struck, these coins soon failed to meet the demand and so copies were struck locally. These
radiate imitatives are common in
Britain, northern
France, Belgium, the Netherlands, but are much rarer in southern
France and the Mediterranean basin. (RR-p.48 and 136)
The
types struck varied by region. The region occupied by the Gallic usurpers produced copies of the coinage of
Postumus,
Victorinus and the Tetrici. (D2-p.150) Although their usurpation
had already ended, the inhabitants of those areas
had been used to the coinage of the usurpers since 260. As these coins remained in use it was logical to imitate them. The imitative radiates found in the rest of the Western
part of the Empire are usually
Claudius II Gothicus (RR-p.48), especially
DIVO CLAVDIO issues (D2-p.150-151). It is believed that these were struck in
Italy,
Spain and
North Africa. (D2-p.152)
Radiate imitatives have also been found in small numbers in places are far away as Beirut (
Berytus) and
Sardis. (RR-p.136)
Generally these
radiate imitatives are very crude. They range from 15mm to 4mm
diameter and weigh as little as 0.5 grams. Lettering, if any is visible, is often very garbled. Busts and
reverse figures are often very crude. (RR-p.48) This is especially true of the “Gallic” coinage. The imitatives of
Claudius II Gothicus are generally of better
quality.
Radiate imitatives were struck either from new copper, or from brass from melted down
sestertii. (RR-p.48) You can often spot the difference in examples that have been cleaned down to the metal.
Neither the reforms of 294,
nor those of 317, resulted in the mass production of a low
denomination coin. Reese believes that the
average small copper (
AE3) of the early 4th century was likely worth 5 nummi. (Thus 1400 small copper coins, or 7000 nummi, to the gold
solidus.) He assigns this 5 nummi coin a rough modern value of 30-40 UK pence or 60-80 US cents and then notes that the old
radiate imitatives which remained in use were valued at around 5 pence, which I assume means about ½ a nummi. (RR-p.127)
The
radiate imitatives remained in use for many decades until small change coinage was again officially minted, in the required mass quantities, around 330 AD with the appearance of the
GLORIA EXERCITVS coins. (RR-p.57) Thus the
radiate imitatives
had a very long lifespan – circa 274 to 330 AD. It is unclear for how much of this period they were actually being struck, as opposed to simply remaining in circulation. However, since
new coins were regularly required to maintain the stock of small change, they must have been struck well into the 4th century. This has interesting repercussions for collectors. For example, the old debate about whether
DIVO CLAVDIO
CONSECRATIO types began to be issued under
Quintillus, or not until
Aurelian, is of less interest as a given example could in fact be an imitative struck many decades later. The large number of
hoards of these
radiate imitatives from 4th century contexts can perhaps be explained by the fact that they were stashed away once they were no longer useful. (RR-p.77)
A New Need in the
WestThe burst of officially produced small bronze coinage was short lived, at least in the
west. Western mints ceased mass production of small copper coins during the 341- 345/346 AD period. This led to the widespread striking of imitatives in order to, once again, fill the need for small change. (RR-p.57) The
type most commonly imitated was the
GLORIA EXERCTIVS (two soldiers facing with one or two standards in between). (D1-p.47, RR-plates 33-34) Other
types imitated include
VOTA issues (D1-p.47), and
URBS ROMA and
CONSTANTINOPOLIS city commemorative issues (RR-plates 32 and 35).
It is interesting to note that although this new burst of imitatives came only 10 years after the end of use of the
radiate imitatives, which
had been used for over 50 years, the new imitatives copied only the official designs of the last 10 years and not any of the
radiate imitatives themselves. This implies that the
radiate imitatives did indeed disappear very rapidly (in less than a decade) once they were no longer needed in the 330s.
Not Enough Horsemen
In 348 AD, with the 1100th
anniversary of
Rome, a new series of copper coinage was introduced – the
FEL TEMP REPARATIO coinage. This series included some small
denomination coinage. However, not enough reached areas like
Britain, so another wave of imitations was required to meet the demand for small change. (RR-p.58) The fact that the purpose of this wave of imitatives was to provide small change can clearly be seen by the fact that they were smaller, often much smaller, than the originals. For example, British imitative
FEL TEMP REPARATIO coins range from 15mm down to 3mm
diameter while the originals were around 20mm
diameter. (RR-p.58 and plate 37)
These imitatives were no longer required by 364 AD with the appearance of the widely produced small copper coinage of House Valentinian, particularly the various
victory walking left issues. (RR-p.58) Nevertheless, a few of the older imitatives appear in
hoards dating into the late 4th and early 5th centuries indicating some remained in circulation for quite a while. (RR-p.95) It is not clear to me why they did not disappear completely and quickly like the
radiate imitatives did at the end of the first phase. Perhaps the
poor quality of officially struck small copper coinage from this point on meant that even obvious imitatives were tolerated, and given the same value “on the street”.
Why No More Imitatives?
With the increasing breakdown of Roman administration in many parts of the empire in the late 4th and early 5th centuries it would seem that coinage supply problems, and thus the need to locally produce small change, would undergo a dramatic rise. However, this was not the case. The
FEL TEMP REPARATIO imitatives were the last great wave. There are very few imitatives after 364 AD.
The most plausible explanation to this dilemma is that, while there were indeed fewer and fewer small copper coins being supplied to the provinces, the need for such coins
had also dropped dramatically and thus there was no reason to strike imitatives. The
Roman Empire was becoming less monetized, at least at the micro economic level. Barter, which
had always been existent, especially in rural areas, was increasingly the main mode of daily trade. It is no coincidence that, in the Western
part of the Empire at least, this period also witnessed a decrease in urbanization. The provinces were also becoming more self-sufficient and less tied to each other. An increasingly rural and local economy simply required less small change.
This can be seen especially starkly in
Britain, with the withdrawal of the Roman
military and official administration, which in effect meant the withdrawal of the Roman economy, in the first decade of the 5th century AD. Despite no longer receiving any imported small change, no imitatives appear to have been struck. With the withdrawal of “
Rome”,
Britain had no need for small change.
How Many Imitatives Are Out There?
More than most people think. The huge
scale of production of imitatives is something that is not understood and recognized widely enough among collectors.
Depeyrot notes that the production of imitative radiates in the “Gallic” territory was too large and too widespread to allow belief that these were truly the result of a clandestine production. (D2-p.148) More surprisingly, and importantly for collectors, Richard Reese states that after examining hundreds of thousands of coins from
Britain and north-western Europe he has found that a greater proportion of several common
types are imitatives than are official strikes. This includes, for example,
GLORIA EXERCITVS finds from
Britain. (RR-p.58)
Where Do I Go For More Information
I have noted the page references for the four works I consulted for this article. However, there is a great deal more information on imitatives out there.
RIC volumes
VII and
VIII contain information about imitatives, as do many other works on
Roman coins. The best online source by far is
Warren Esty’s excellent site on “Ancient Imitations of
Roman Coins”. Its many sub pages cover imitations and
contemporary counterfeits, including
fouree denarii, from the
Roman Republic to the late 4th century AD.
http://esty.ancients.info/imit/Shawn Caza