I am announcing my new educational site on barbarous radiates of the Gallo-Roman empire (259-274 CE): http://augustuscoins.com/ed/imit/BarbarousRadiates.html Here is the first image on my new page. It has an official coin of Tetricus I (271-274) on the left and 5 barbarous radiates of decreasing sizes down to 6 mm. I solicit suggestions for improving the page. You can Private-Message me. In the past CT has had some good threads illustrating barbarous radiates: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/smallest-radiate-ever-14mm-tetricus-barb.361720/#post-4568590 and https://www.cointalk.com/threads/barbarous-lot.349912/#post-3864135 Here is one on Tetricus II: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/tetricus-ii.313504/#post-3033226 If you have a barbarous radiate you have not shown here recently, we'd like to see it. Here is the URL of the new web page again: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/imit/BarbarousRadiates.html
Thank you so much for your interest on these small guys Surprisingly the third one on the right seems to have some silvering remains !
@Valentinian - Thanks for this interesting overview. I found a lot of scholarly information in the catalog of the CNG N.McQ. Holmes collection of Roman coins (250-270 AD) that was auctioned in April, 2019. I bought some very interesting coins that I showed on CoinTalk, also imitations. The catalog appears still to be for sale, and it may be found on the internet, too. There were several CT threads about it in the past, here's the first. And this one features my clear forgery of a Saloninus coin with Postumus reverse, that I think classifies as a barbarous radiate. Antoninianus Saloninus caesar (258-260) – Postumus (259-268), contemporary forgery, hybrid with reverse of Postumus. Obv. Radiate and draped bust right. SALON VALERIANVS CAES. Rev. Hercules standing left, holding olive branch, club and lion-skin. radiate and draped bust right. HERC PACIFERO. 18.5 mm, 2.89 gr. Reverse of Postumus, AGK 27, RIC V 67. Ex Berk BBS 114 (23 May 2000), lot 433. Ex N.M.McQ. Holmes 768 (17 April 2019).
Here are some other barbarous coins from my collection. Postumus 259-268, AE dupondius (local imitation). Round-jowled bust with radiate crown to the right. [ ] CASS [ ] POSTV [ ] / LAETITIA, galley to the left. 23.63 mm, 8.6 gr. Large portrait, small flan. Bastien 373 K var. Tetricus I / Pax, with spigots, 15 x 17 mm, 1.77 gr. Tetricus I Tetricus II 273-274. AE antoninianus. Cologne or Trier. Obv. Radiate and draped bust right (slightly odd). C PIV ESV TETRICVS CAES. Rev. Spes walking left, holding flower and raising hem of skirt. SPES AVGG. 18 mm, 4.26 gr. RIC 270. JAZ CoinTalk auction, August 2018. Tetricus I 271-274. AE antoninianus. Contemporary imitation. Obv. Radiated head t.r. TPVC CIC. Rev. Salus holding anchor t.l. 16 mm, 2.39 gr. Prototype: C 152. AGK 11b. Elmer 788 (Trier). Cunetio 2653. (I had some doubts about this coin because it's so different from other barbs, but now I see it might have been in the Cunetio hoard). Posthumous Claudius II barbarous imitation. Obv. Radiate head r., a bit excentric, with pearl rim right. Rev. Cross with radial stripes, possibly after a funeral altar. Carausius 287-293. AE Antoninianus. Obv. Radiate head right. Readable text IMPCCA ... VG. Rev. Salus? with a text that I can't read, but there's a cross on X at the end. 15-17.5 mm (oval), 2.41 gr. (Does Carausius count? Is it barbarous enough?) Claudius II? 10 mm, 0.84 gr. (This one is barbarous enough)
I could see reading the Carausius as IMP C CLA making it a Claudius. The Claudius II? (I am not sure I see enough to say) reminds me of my left facer with Fortuna reverse shown here too many times. Lefties are not common.
Very well-written site! Barbarous radiates were one of the first areas of Roman collecting that really drew me in, and I still have almost every barbarous coin I've ever purchased, probably about 100 in total. I did get burned out because it's not really possible to get from an "accumulation" to any sort of "collection". These are some of my favorites: An unambiguous barbarous Gallienus, complete with his grape-cluster neckbeard and maybe a Salus reverse? Obverse is almost literate - CALINVS AVG, reverse is gibberish - just I's and C's A strange coin, perhaps imitating a Gallienus Zoo coin? No legends, just zig-zags A barbarous Claudius II lifetime issue with visible -DIVS in the obverse legend A barbarous Victorinus with full legends, but all the S's are sideways - C VICTORINVS AUC/ SALVS AVCCS, not sure what Salus is doing, though A highly degenerate left-facing bust (agreed, these are quite uncommon) A fairly common error - A clearly Tetricus I bust with a Tetricus II reverse featuring priestly implements This Tetricus I would almost pass as official, except that it's only 12mm! This one however isn't fooling anyone A favorite of mine - I am convinced that this coin was made with an official (but worn) Tetricus II obverse die coupled with a home-made reverse die; perhaps the obverse die was looted from the mint as Aurelian brought Gaul back under his control?
Additionally, I would also like to raise a few things that could be discussed, although there is admittedly very little scholarly coverage on them right now. - As posted in this thread, and in a few others, barbarous coins are mostly modeled on Imperial prototypes, but on rare occasions one can find one that are a totally original. Probably the coolest is the "stag-rider" that has been posted on here a few times previously, and I wish Doug could have gotten a picture of the Gladiator one he saw years ago. - Barbarous coins give coins that cannot be collected from imperial series, perhaps most notably is Tetricus II as Augustus, a title which he likely held for only a couple of weeks, if at all. - It would also be worth noting that the large number of Claudius II type imitations may be tied to the so-called "Mint Revolt" of 270/1 in which Felicissimus was put to death for stealing silver from the Rome mint, and the mint workers raised an army with those illicit proceeds to challenge Aurelian's authority. I've heard it claimed in several places that survivors of the mint revolt may have fled to the provices, only to set up shop there and continue minting Divus Claudius II antoninianii - indeed, the vast majority of them are far better made than the barbarous radiates of Tetricus and his son.
I also suspect my Tetricus is a barbarous imitation 1.38 g 13.9 mm Obverse legend starts with IMP C TE.... and the reverse legend should be SALVS AVG but it just doesn't look official.
I presume you mean 9 mm. I'm sure the bearded ruler is Tetricus I. I have seen many barbarous radiates but I don't recognize the reverse of yours.
Very handy website! I'll bookmark it for future references. Here are the handful of my Barbarous radiates, apologies for poor picture qualities. I'm not 100% sure of the IDs, it's just what I have from previous research but if you know anything more about them, I'd love to hear! 260-280 CE (Circa) Barbaric Antoninianus Radiate Gaul 'Radiate Bust' 'Laetitia' 2.73g 16mm 270-275 CE AE Antoninianus Claudius II CONSECRATIO Eagle Type 'DIVO CLAVDIO, Radiate bust right' 'CONSECRATIO, Eagle' 2.59g 17mm I thought the above eagle piece was a legitimate mint issue but after looking at your example, I question that. What do you think? 270-early 300s CE AE Barbarous Imitation of Claudius II Gaul Altar Type 'Radiate bust right' 'Crude altar with marks in place of letters' 1.15g 11x13mm 270-early 300s CE AE Barbarous Radiate 'Bust Right' 'Goddess standing right, arms outright' 2.00g 15mm
There are quite a few nice, nearly full flan, official issues of that Claudius II CONSECRATIO type. That makes me think yours is unofficial.
