Just in from the latest Savoca - Trebonianus Gallus AE Antoninianus Irregular mint? IMP C C VIB TREB GALLVS AVG, Radiate draped and cuirassed bust right ANNON AVGG, Annona standing left, holding cornucopia and grain ears over modius or small altar 19mm, 3.58g Portraiture seems more in line with Claudius II or Aurelian, but the legend is unambiguous. I believe that the legend with C C VIB is generally associated with the Milan mint, and I do not believe this is a reverse type used on official coins of Gallus - His only annona coins that I could find show her holding a rudder. Perhaps an exceptionally early barbarous radiate or some type of Limes antoninianus?
That's an interesting coin!....imo - I can't see it being barbarous as the legend spelling is so accurate?...In general a well detailed coin......Will be interested in what others say...Nice find though!
That’s a very interesting coin, @Finn235 . Annona in that pose was a fairly common reverse design under Philip I. Here is my example (which regrettably comes from a worn reverse die), but there are other variations of this design under Philip. Philip I, Antoninianus, Rome, 247 AD, (23mm, 4.55g), Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right / Annona standing left, holding grain ears over prow and cornucopia. RIC IV 59. Could your coin be some sort of imitation/mule/unofficial issue based on a Philip reverse die? Certainly resembles a Philip I reverse, but obviously the timeline doesn’t quite match up. I hope that better minds than mine will weigh in on this one, very interested to see if anyone can ID this. Great coin! Also, could your reverse legend be ANNONA AVGG ? Looks like there may be a faded “A” after ANNON, but to tough to tell.
That's just a bizarre coin in many ways. I agree the obverse inscription is that of the branch mint (formerly attributed to Milan). But neither RIC nor the Four Bad Years site list any coins of this mint with an Annona reverse. Moreover, the style is very different from branch mint portraits. Here are my branch mint coins: Now, there is a coin of Trebonianus with the Philip I Annona reverse (corn ears over modius and cornucopiae), RIC 62, but a search for this coin at acsearchinfo turns up no examples sold at auction and a similar search at OCRE comes up empty, too. So, the coin must be very rare. Moreover, this coin supposedly has the Rome mint obverse inscription, unlike the OP coin. It's very strange, indeed.
Definitely an imitation. Here's my coin (from the AK collection, acquired by him in 1980) with the same obverse die, but a Virtus reverse taken from Volusian: @Valentinian also has one on his Decius/T-bone imitation page with a Pax reverse which is proper for T-bone at Milan: Undoubtedly made for use outside the empire. And they obviously made pretty free with mix-n-match reverses!
Now that is cool! Three coins, three different reverses, but all struck from the same obverse die! This will definitely be a treasured addition to my barbarous collection. Makes you wonder how many others are out there...
Perhaps contemporary counterfeits produced by a fairly sophisticated illicit mint? While the silver content dropped to about 35% during the reign of Trebonianus Gallus, there was still substantial profit to be made with base imitations. As the silver content continued to fall in the reigns that followed, earlier coins such as those of Gallus, would have been worth a substantial premium in the marketplace. I think @Finn235 may have been on track in his opening post. Though well before the real beginning of the "barbarous radiates", the reign of Gallus falls at the cusp of the economic crisis that led to the wave of epidemic counterfeiting in the 270s. [edit] I will also note that a hoard of official coins of Gallus produced at the Antioch mint and published by Metcalf in 1977 (ANSMN 22) exhibited crude style and frequent spelling errors, suggesting hasty wartime production. Food for thought.
More about these at the Four Bad Years site. They are apparently ancient forgeries. Here (near bottom of the page) are five reverse types struck with the same obverse die as the OP.
