A Celtic imitation combining two different Republican denarii

Some of you saw the comment I posted on Alegandron's "Slam dance" post about the slabbed Hosidia denarius I recently ordered. I was browsing the seller's other items and found a really beautiful Celtic imitative hybrid that combined two separate Republcian issues, and I quickly fell in love with this amazing oddity, so I sent the seller an offer and eagerly awaited a reply. It turns out the seller lives just under an hour away and would accept my offer on the condition that I pay cash and buy it in person, and it was a nice day for a road trip so I accepted. It turned out to be a really great time, and after spending near an hour sitting on the seller's porch discussing coins and history I left with this:


Danubian Celts, imitating Roman Republic AR denarius (17 mm, 2.90 g). After 105 BC. Hybrid of obverse imitating L. Thorius Balbus(Crawford 316/1, 105 BC) and reverse imitating M. Aemilius M. f. Lepidus(Crawford 291/1, 114/3 BC). Head of Juno Sospita with goatskin headdress right, behind IISWK downwards / Equestrian statue standing right on triumphal arches, ILIO right, LEP within arches. Cf. Crawford 316/1 & Crawford 291/1

This seems to be a hybrid of two issues, the obverse of a denarius of L. Thorius Balbus and the reverse of a denarius of M. Aemilius M. f. Lepidus. This may be a unique combination, as I was unable to find any similar coins. Hybrids are not unheard of with imitative issues by any means, but it is still a really interesting piece.

It was previously slabbed by NGC but I of course cracked it out as soon as possible. The seller remarked that it could possibly be a fouree, based on the light weight(2.9g) and small hole on the reverse, and at first glance with a powerful light it looked to have some green in there like the patina many bronze coins have. Upon closer inspection under the microscope, the silver surface around the hole looks to be quite thick and I think this is just a bubble in the flan that has some of the green encrustation in it that you can see in various places. I scraped a small amount of the green encrustation from the edge and found solid silver underneath as well.

Anyone else got any interesting imitative issues? Please share! This one is my first.

 

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Very nice and interesting. However, no imitatives here.

 

That is both an interesting coin and an interesting looking coin. Congrats!

 

Nice writeup and coin. Got none either.

 

That's a wonderful oddity indeed, not only for the obverse/reverse mismatch, but it's also got a truly Celtic gestalt in the bust and horse.

 

I do have a couple imitative coins, nothing as interesting as the OP coin, but here's one, an FH of Constantius II. I don't really collect imitatives but this one had such a goofy and fun style, I had to have it...



Roman Imitative, Time of Constantius II
AE3, 17mm, 1.9g; circa AD 355 (?)
Obv.: ? CONSTAN-TI AV PF; diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right.
Rev.: FEL TEMP R-EPS????; Soldier spearing falling horseman // TCON
Reference: imitating RIC VIII Arles 266.

 

I don't particularly collect imitatives either but I'd definitely buy that one. It's got a ton of character.

 

This one's a real doozy. The reverse imitates a type of Licinius I, but the bust is all wrong. The engraver copied a coin with bust RIC VII G2 in the same orientation on the die as on the coin, rendering a horizontally-flipped version of G2. Bust G2 doesn't occur on these types, even in its proper orientation. Notice that he also ran out of room in exergue for the mint mark and placed the L next to the end of the reverse legend. The coin is also substantially under the weight of the follis it imitates.



Roman Imitative, time of Licinius I, AD 308-324
AE Follis, 18mm, 2.1g, 3h; unofficial but with Arles mint mark, c. AD 319.
Obv.: DN LICI-NIVS AVG;Laureate head right, cuirassed, with spear over left shoulder.
Rev.: IOVI CONSERVATORI AVG; Emperor holding thunderbolt and scepter, riding on eagle // TAR-L
Ex-Rick Morton, Capitoline Collection

 

Cool coin red_spork, very nice.

I have one Dacian imitation.

"The prototype for this obverse is possibly Publius Calpurnius, Crawford 247/1, 133 BC, although there are many other possibilities. The reverse imitates C. Licinius Macer, Crawford 354/1, 84 BC." (P.Davis)

AR, 17mm, 3.3g

 

It seems to me that we have been seeing a lot more imitative Republicans lately. I've always seen fourrees but I'm talking about really odd style coins usually called Dacian by sellers. I have seen the write ups of finds but the ones I have seen for sale usually don't seem quite the same. Last week I passed on one on eBay which did not even seem to copy something I knew because I could not convince myself it was ancient. This is the situation I have with many of these and I do not know how I am to convince myself that they are old Dacians rather than new Bulgarians.

Mismatched dies are not all that unusual in fourrees. This one, however, does not have the really strange style. There is much to learn here.

 

Great coin! Thanks for freeing it from the slab!

 

This coin is strange. It went under the microscope just a moment ago and I looked at some of the dirt in the cracks around the edge and very carefully removed some. It seems there are more voids inside of the coin full of this green stuff. I almost wonder if it isn't a fouree where the core has mostly corroded away leaving a hollow shell.

 

A site that attempts to shed light on RR Dacian imitations.

Maybe of some help.

I'm not a collector of these, but found this site while investigating the coin I posted.

http://rrimitations.ancients.info/index.html

 

I have a barbarous Spanish imitation of a semis, which I recently purchased, so have not yet done any research on it. Anyone want to take a shot at attributing this coin? I have attached 2 images of the reverse (rotated 180 degrees) so you can choose if I have the prow upside down or not. The flip states that there is an anchor on the reverse, but if anyone can spot it, please let me know where it is!

Semis Anchor Spanish Imitation
c. 150 BC
Obv: Laureate head of Saturn right
Rx: prow right

 

Neat one.