Late Roman Bronze Coins

Coin talk => Unofficial coinage => Topic started by: Coriel on December 08, 2015, 11:37:17 AM

Title: Barbarous or barbarian?
Post by: Coriel on December 08, 2015, 11:37:17 AM

Does anyone know what this little thing is? It came in a large uncleaned collection of coins and tokens from Suffolk.
13mm x 11mm and 0.70gms.[img][img]

Title: Re: Barbarous or barbarian?
Post by: Victor on December 08, 2015, 12:08:31 PM

it's an unofficial coin, copying one of the Gallic Emperors, most likely Tetricus. The reverse is not very clear, but maybe PAX. These are fairly common and are usually struck on undersized flans, like yours.

Title: Re: Barbarous or barbarian?
Post by: Coriel on December 08, 2015, 12:34:34 PM

Thanks Victor. How on earth were they actually used! So tiny they'd get lost so easily.

Title: Re: Barbarous or barbarian?
Post by: Victor on December 08, 2015, 12:45:33 PM

Quote from: Bitters on December 08, 2015, 12:34:34 PM

So tiny they'd get lost so easily.

Because they are so small, they are often called minimi which comes from Latin minimus for "smallest"

Title: Re: Barbarous or barbarian?
Post by: Victor on April 21, 2016, 06:00:23 PM

I just got these two minimi likely copying coins from Tetricus I with a SPES reverse

11-12mm
0.7gm  & 1.0gm