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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Conduitt, post: 7847010, member: 109923&quot;]I have a bit of a conundrum. What is this coin? It was described in the auction (Spink, not eBay) as a &#039;contemporary forgery or limes denarius of Gordian III.&#039; Which doesn&#039;t really narrow it down.</p><p><br /></p><p>As far as I can work out, one side is based on an antoninianus (not a denarius) of Gordian III: radiate, draped, cuirassed bust right, with legend IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANVS AVG. This fits various antoniniani of Gordian III from 238-240. His denarii have the legend IMP C M instead of IMP CAES M.</p><p><br /></p><p>The other side, however, features the portrait of another emperor, which seems to be Septimius Severus: laureate right, with legend (L SEPT) SEV PER-T AVG IMP V. This fits various denarii of Septimius Severus from 195AD.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Gordian III and Septimius Severus Denarius</b></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1350798[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Plated copper. 17mm, 1.52g.</b></p><p><b>Gordian III, IMP CAES M ANT GORDIANVS AVG. cf. Gordian III RIC IV 1-6, 14-20, 27-39, 48-50, 50A-C</b>.</p><p><b>Septimius Severus, (L SEPT) SEV PER-T AVG IMP V. cf. RIC VI 57-63 or 465 (although none have PER-T split as apparently on this coin).</b></p><p><br /></p><p>So...is it a limes or a forgery? Is it &#039;contemporary&#039; (made in the 240s)? Why does it feature an emperor on both sides? Why would those emperors be 27 years apart?</p><p><br /></p><p>The coin came from a Victorian pawnbroker&#039;s collection (so it has to be at least 100 years old) with an envelope claiming it was &#039;found in Walmgate, York&#039;. That area has produced Roman coffins, jewellery and coins featuring Septimius Severus. There was a lot of construction in Walmgate in the Victorian era, so perhaps a labourer found the coin while digging and pawned it to supplement his wages.</p><p><br /></p><p>Any thoughts would be welcome![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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