Roman Republic? Heads both sides.. any ideas?

[DrP]

This roman coin has a head on both sides. Any idea as to what or who the people are. I bought this today on a whim at a fair.

Edited May 10 by DrP

[Paddy]

I can't tell you who the people depicted are, but I suspect this is a "Barbarous Radiate" - that is to say a coin minted post Roman empire in loose imitation of a Roman coin.

[DrP]

Thanks Paddy. I'm hoping the other one I posted about today isn't a fake either as it was from the same guy.  Its still a nice looking coin and has age to it, I'm guessing 500 or 600 AD then I suppose. Not 200BC/AD as I thought.

[Paddy]

Yes, a Barbarous radiate is not a fake in the usual sense of the word. It would have been made 4th or 5th century after the Roman Empire in Europe had collapsed to provide coinage for the remaining residents.

I looked at your other coin but I was not able to offer any real insight.

 

 

[jelida]

36 minutes ago, DrP said:

Thanks Paddy. I'm hoping the other one I posted about today isn't a fake either as it was from the same guy.  Its still a nice looking coin and has age to it, I'm guessing 500 or 600 AD then I suppose. Not 200BC/AD as I thought.

In fact “ barbarous radiates” were produced unofficially as an ‘illicit’ currency from the third century or earlier , and tend to mimic the official currency then circulating for example the radiates of Tetricus but also the non radiates of the family of Constantine and later. On many of the third/fourth century Roman sites that I have detected they are as frequently found as non barbarous coins so they clearly circulated widely.

Yes, this looks like a “barbarous’ coin to me, and a particularly interesting example.

Jerry

[Peckris 2]

there's Greek on the ?reverse? - upper case Epsilon Omicron Sigma spelling EOS, the name of an Ancient Greek goddess.

[copper123]

Most coins at this time circulated at their melt value along with any remaining copper/ bronze left over from when the romans left .

They probably circulated till melted down for other uses about the year 700 or so or untill decent quality silver pennies appeared