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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Valentinian, post: 4397054, member: 44316&quot;]One coin type that was often imitated in ancient times was the very common ancient coin &quot;soldier spearing fallen horseman&quot; (SSFH) with legend FEL TEMP REPARATIO (FTR), best known as an AE2 under Constantius II after the coin reform of 348. Here is a prototype:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1105623[/ATTACH] </p><p>Large.&nbsp; 25-23 mm.&nbsp; RIC Antioch 132. 4:30. &quot;AD 350-355&quot;.&nbsp; The gamma in field left identifies it as from the &quot;first series&quot; (among three) in this time period. It therefore dates c. 350-1. </p><p><br /></p><p>Originals come from a few different emperors from lots of mints, lot of different field marks, and a few different postures of the &quot;fallen horseman,&quot; and the same type soon was issued smaller and smaller, down to about 16-17 mm, so it can be fun to collect varieties. </p><p><br /></p><p>It was often imitated in ancient times and commonly is found in Britain. When I went to small coin shows in England in the late 1980s and 1990s some small dealers had bags I could pick from of hundreds of grotty green-patinated tiny disks which upon inspection were mostly very small contemporary FTR SSFH imitations. I figure they were accumulated metal detector finds that no one wanted to buy. At the time I was more interested in the bigger and clearer examples and scarcer types, but now I wish I had bought at least one of the tiny rotten ones for comparison. (It would have cost all of 25 cents.)</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; Here is an example that is much larger and of better style than the coins I mentioned above:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1105647[/ATTACH] </p><p>AE18.&nbsp; 7:00.&nbsp; 2.01 grams.</p><p>An imitation in good style, not far removed from official style.</p><p>However, the legend break &quot;A-N&quot; is not official. The &quot;A&quot; behind the head belongs to the previous, larger (AE22-20) issue, and the style is slightly odd, especially the nose and horseman.</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; /FEL TEMP RE-[&nbsp; &nbsp; ]TIO&nbsp; There may be a letter (the &quot;P&quot;) that failed to be engraved.</p><p>In exergue:&nbsp; TRP</p><p>Prototype:&nbsp; RIC Trier page 167, size of 358 but &quot;A&quot; from 350.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now for the reason I am writing. I recently got a cute imitation of almost no dollar value but of some interest. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1105630[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Small</b>. 15 mm. 1.78 grams.</p><p>Bare-headed bust right, possibly &quot;IANVS&quot; to right</p><p>Soldier spearing horseman, horse falling but rider upright, reaching back </p><p>possibly &quot;FEL TE...&quot; from 10:00. </p><p>TCON for Constantina = Arelate = Arles mint.</p><p>The surface tells me this one was almost certainly not found in Britain. </p><p>Prototype: RIC VIII Arles 273, page 224, &quot;diameter 16-17 mm, 2.26 grams.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Cute!</p><p><br /></p><p>The legend and the bare head make me think this is an imitation of an original in the name of Julian II, who became Caesar in 355, Augustus in 360, and died in 363.</p><p><br /></p><p>CoinTalk has had many threads with examples of &quot;bull&quot; and &quot;VOT X MVLT XX&quot; types of Julian, but FTR SSFH types of his are hard to find in good condition and, I think, imitations of them are rare.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Please post some FTR SSFH coins of Julian or FTR SSFH imitations for any emperor. Be sure to tell us the diameter.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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