Contorniate campgate

[tjaart]

Hi all,

In the recent Leu Numismatics auction I was lucky enough to get this campgate. I was wondering if any one has any information on why this modification was done. I have read up a bit on contorniates but it seems this classification is mostly assigned to medals and to coins much bigger in size that this. From the style I want to guess it is from Arles or Cyzicus. Any other guesses?

13 mm, 1.73 g, 6 h
Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to left.
Campgate with two turrets.
An interesting very small proto-contorniate.

[Victor]

it also looks unofficial, but why it was done, I have no idea, but Andreas Alföldi in "Die Kontorniaten" proposed that this was done to coins that were given as New year's gifts to friends and family. Below is another example.

[tjaart]

That is a nice example with most of the legends still preserved! Thanks for the Alfoldi info. I might try and see if I can find that book.

You mentioned that it looked unofficial. Is there anything specific that makes you think that?

[Victor]

My initial thought seeing it was that the bust looked unofficial, but it is hard to be sure, especially since the coin has been modified. The modificaton might also be what makes it seem a bit off to me, but the portrait looks unusual, especially around the eyes, but that might just be preservation or perhaps a result of the coin being modified.

[Gavin]

I always thought Contorniates were made from larger coins. Is that an erroneous assumption? Really interesting piece.

[Victor]

Contorniates are large, circa 35mm, which is why tjaart used the term proto-contorniate. The large contorniates were issued in the 4th century and the smaller ones turn up on some 4th century coins also. Alföldi's argument was that the small ones were gifts for holidays. I would guess that people knew the official contorniates were special presentation pieces, so they made their own to give to family and friends.

[Gavin]

That makes sense.