Late Roman AE was very commonly imitated in the Constantinian era. However, imitations of Valentinian through Honorius are not so commonly available. Last year I got three unusual "Vota" imitations. Today I put them on my page of imitations of Valentinian and later and improved the layout of that page: http://esty.ancients.info/imit/imitRICIX.html Here is one. This tiny coin is only 9 mm and 0.42 grams. The type: VOT X MVLT XX Type 26 on the late Roman AE page. It was struck for Gratian, Valentinian II, Theodosius, and Arcadius. Usually it is about 13 mm and a gram and a half. This one, at 9 mm and only 0.46 grams. is much smaller.
Awesome Imitation, any idea as to the region or was it circulating alongside the normal coinages? Where they hoarded together and valued on its weight?
Ditto! Go through it all the time. Lately, when I find the cool item I want, the text is in purple! Sold! Cool stuff goes fast...
I save pedigrees, at least back to the dealer, but these three came from a collector from whom I was unable to get any records at all.
Could this be a superior example of what is commonly sold as "Vandal imitations" on ebay? Those I have seen are all quite deteriorated but they seem to be similar in style to this example. Also, on a more serious point: do we have any real reason to attribute these to the Vandals? North African hoards maybe?
