While looking at Denarii on ebay, I couldn't help but notice the huge number of low grade coins listed in the Ukraine. Are there really that many there? Or are they still producing them!
Ukraine does have a fake coin issue, Ukraine provides many fakes for more modern Russian imperial coinage as well. However, I've found Albania, Montenegro, and a couple others to be more typical suspects. At least in my experience.
I occasionally buy Roman denarii from the Ukraine, via eBay. As far as I can tell, they are genuine ancient, and very low grade. What follows is a guess, based on stuff I've gleaned poking around online: there are a lot of metal detector finds in these areas, which were near the Roman borderlands. The barbarians only accepted payment in good silver, so, as was happening in the East, Roman good silver was sucked out of the Roman economy to pay for goods, mercenaries, etc. In the East, the Persians and Sassanians, etc. recoined Roman silver into local coin (Sassanian drachms are very, very common). The western barbarians didn't seem to coin so much, so the Roman coins circulated, a lot. Which is why they are so worn. My guess! But they do find lots of Roman coins around the Ukraine. Here is an article (with map) of the many Roman coin finds in the "Barbaricum": https://www.researchgate.net/public...OARDS_OF_DENARII_FROM_THE_EUROPEAN_BARBARICUM Here's a huge batch of denarii found in a field in Poland - not sure about the "Vandals Last Stand" theory, but lots of coins - that these are denarii from Nerva to Septimius Severus pretty much matches what the Ukranian sellers' listings on eBay: https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/roman-denarii-0013499 But back to buying them: here is a denarius of Commodus I pulled off a typical Ukrainian eBay listing: Here's another one, different seller: These are very typical for these auctions; I just don't see anything modern or counterfeit about these. Why would anyone bother duplicating such wear and tear? The price for this sort of coin is about $25 with $5 or so shipping. I only bid on them if the reverse design is unusual, great portrait, etc. On the other hand, lots of Bulgarian denarii, etc., scream fake - very high grade, perfectly centered, unconvincingly ancient die work, a "pressed" look. There should be a lot of low grade genuine finds in that area too, I'd think, but I rarely see them for sale. Again, this is an opinion, offered with very little evidence beyond poking around the Internet. Also, I am not in the Ukraine and I have no financial stake in the sale of coins from Ukraine, etc. And I have nothing against Bulgaria - a friend of mine is half Bulgarian and she is wonderful! Okay, now these Ukrainian coins are ancient, I believe, are they really Roman? Here is an interesting article I just found, theorizing that the barbarians of what is now Ukraine were extensively copying Roman denarii: https://www.thefirstnews.com/articl...to-be-genuine-are-fake-say-archeologists-6520 Note that the article starts out noting scholars have long believed these coins to be genuine Roman mint products. Silver or base metal "limes"? Argh. I won't go there; others on Coin Talk know way more than I do about this and I've already rambled too long.
I have also noticed that denarii listed by sellers in Ukraine are very worn. Why? It is likely that the coins circulated in that region for a very long time. In a place like Rome with large scale minting capacity it was easier to melt and re-mint coins. Without that capacity -- and will to melt and recoin -- existing coins keep circulating until they grade falls below "good". Even in modern times coins circulate until they are very worn. My grandfather brought back a few rolls of pennies from England, pulled out of circulation in 1960. Most were miserable. The UK re-minted everything in the 1970s. I never see English pennies at coin shows as bad as what he pulled out of circulation. Most of the bad ones were not saved and became scrap. There was also unofficial minting going on in Ukraine. At local workshops it is likely the relief wasn't as high and the silver wasn't as hard. It isn't clear how much of recent finds are contemporary counterfeits. Some examples have bogus inscriptions, so we can be sure they are local issues: Obv: ???ИIИ? ??IMAYVGIIIG; Marcus Aurelius Rev: V??V??? IIV V...; “Concordia” seated, holding ”caduceus“ (?) and scepter (with ribbons?) cf. RIC 1, cf. http://barbarous-imitations.narod.ru/ If you look at the wares of Ukrainian sellers you will see unknown reverse types. Those are certainly "barbaric." Scholars will also encounter denarii with perfect inscriptions but the same low-quality nose engraving on the portrait as the blundered inscription examples. These are usually counted as official -- but I doubt it. The only catalog I've found that covers barbaric issues is Barbarian coins on the territory between the Balkans and Central Asia: catalog of Andrei Sergeev's collection at the State Historical Museum. It's in English. It is hard to find in the US.
Thank you, @Ed Snible for that information. Indeed, quite a few of the Ukrainian denarii are crude in appearance (not all, however). That these are local imitations makes a lot of sense. The illustration Ed provides is an excellent example. I just found this article on the Romans in the Ukraine: "During their rule in what is today Ukraine, the Romans established economic and cultural contacts with the neighboring Scythians, Sarmatians, and tribes of the Zarubyntsi culture. The coastal cities were thriving centers where agricultural products from the Ukrainian territories were traded for Roman-imported weapons, jewelry, textiles, ceramics, and other goods. Many Roman merchants settled there and traveled into the Ukrainian hinterland. Roman coins have been found in over 1,000 locations in Ukraine, and 137 large hoards have been discovered there, evidence that the Roman silver denarius was a principal currency in Ukraine in the 2nd to 5th centuries. Archeologists’ discoveries of Roman artifacts of daily use, luxury items, and pagan idols indicate that the Romans influenced the material culture and religious worldview of Ukraine’s ancient inhabitants." http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages\R\O\Romans.htm If the denarius circulated from the 2nd to 5th (!) century, that would explain the wear - and the presence of a lot of "homemade" varieties as Ed notes, since Rome stopped minting these in the 3rd century, so new supplies were nil. This reminds me of the milled Spanish Colonial 8 reales that circulated in China from the 18th century up to the 1930s - many of these were copies (many in good silver) made in the UK, USA and elsewhere. Chinese merchants paid a premium for old Spanish designs, so it was worth fabricating new ones. As for the denarius in the Ukraine, I also notice that very few antoniniani show up in the eBay auctions - even the nicer Gordian/Philip types. Just denarii, mostly Antonine.
