Een ‘barbaric’ imitation of Magnentius
AE ‘barbaric’ imitation of a
Magnentius centenionalis (350-353)
Irregular
mint in Gallia, ca 353
Obverse:
DN MAGNENTIVS PF AVG; Dr. & cuir. bust r.
Reverse: VI…IT C
(retrograde) IVCC. In field: SP; In ex: TR; Two Victory’s holding shield
inscribed …I/V/ TVN/ X
17mm;
2,19 g.
This
coin is a so called ‘barbaric’ imitation. This is indicated by the irregular
style and the garbled legends. The word ‘barbaric’ is somewhat misleading. This
is because the phrase was coined in a time that numismatists thought these
coins were struck outside the Roman empire. In the present day there is
a consensus that these coins for the most part were minted within the borders
of the empire. The reason for this practice was probably shortage of official
coinage. If the supply from the imperial mints to the provinces came to a halt
for whatever reason, the people began producing their own coins to sustain
local economies. These local imitations were not counterfeit coins, made to
deceive; they were made because of an economical necessity. As we will be shown
below, this coin provides some insight into the methods of ‘barbaric’ workshops
in 4th century Roman Gaul.
The
first thing to look for is a possible ‘prototype’ for the imitation. Which coin
was being imitated by the die cutter of this imitation? The obvious way to do
that is looking at the exergue of the coin. There the letters ‘TR’ appear,
which points to Trier. And there we have our prototype – a Magnentius from
Trier with a ‘Two Victory’s holding shield’ reverse.
A ‘Prototype’ for the imitation above: AE maiorina,
Trier mint, TRP in ex. (Lanz auk. 123, lot 932)
If
we compare the imitation to this prototype, we see the obverse legend (DN
MAGNENTIVS PF AVG) is rendered very well. Although the letters are somewhat
irregular, they are all recognizable. The reverse legend, on the other hand, is
almost completely ‘blundered’. The letters VICT appear counter clockwise, but
that’s about it. (This phenomenon – a very recognizable obverse legend, but a
blundered reverse legend – happens quite often with ‘barbaric’ imitations.) The
text on the shield (VOT/V/MVLT/X) is also blundered on the imitation (MVLT
turns into TVN). These blundered legends are a main feature of imitations of
Roman coins, but it is not a law which applies to all imitations. Some pieces
have perfect legends and only differ in style from ‘official’ coins.
But
this is not the whole story of the coin above. Identifying a prototype from
Trier is not enough. This has everything to do with the letters SP in the field
of the reverse. As a matter of fact, these letters only appear on coins minted
in Lyon. They do not appear on coins from Trier or any other mint. Compare this
example:
Second ‘prototype’; same type as the Trier specimen,
but letters SP in field, chi-rho above shield, RPLG in ex. (Lanz auk. 106, lot
767)
The thing that makes this imitative
coin special is that there was no single prototype. The coin combines a Trier exergue
with field letters from Lyon. Pierre Bastien devotes a whole chapter to
Magnentius imitations in his monograph on this emperor. The imitation shown
here fits his findings very well. Bastien lists several imitations with field
letters from Lyon, correctly combined with mintmarks of that city (RPLG), but
also with mintmarks from Trier en Amiens. According to Bastien these coins were
minted in irregular regional mints in Gaul, which is indicated by several coin
hoards.
The die cutters in these local workshops
didn’t ‘copy’ one original. They made their own designs and were inspired by
several ‘prototypes’. These prototypes were minted in Trier, Amiens and Lyon.