Great coin.
Ed, your comments highlight a serious deficiency. Sadly late Roman bronze coinage remains the "
poor man of
Numismatics". It might seem surprising for some given that they represent the
bulk of
Roman coins out there, one of the most common entry points for new collectors, as well as the
bulk of site and
area finds at most sites. But if you look at the high end literature - just for example articles in the
AJN over the last 20 years - they are clearly the most neglected. There is a real bias out there. It is sad but I understand how the high end institutions would rather wave around some expensive Greek tetradrachmas to lure in the donors instead of cheapo LRBCs.....
To do what you suggest would be great. But it would appear to take some real horsepower - getting out in the
field, visiting museums, in other words spending time and
money. And as long as LRBCs remain basically the preserve of enthusiastic amatuers such expenditure is very difficult.
It needs to be promoted more. Interestingly in speaking to numismatic students in
Vienna almost all are fascinated by imitatives yet there is little formal attention given to them in their courses.
I wonder if there would be a way to create on online database and at least allow collectors to upload their images. Sometime like the
forum galleries and
coinproject but just for
LRBC imitatives.
Shawn
