unofficial Constantine II GLORIA EXERCITVS from Lyons

[Victor]

I just picked up this coin. Though clearly unofficial, it was listed in the auction as official. It is also from the Nether Compton hoard.


auction description---

 
Constantine II. As Caesar, AD 316-337. Æ Follis (16mm, 1.53 g, 6h). Lugdunum (Lyon) mint, 1st officina. Struck AD 330-331. Laureate and cuirassed bust right / Two soldiers standing facing one another, each holding spear and shield set on ground; two signa between; •PLG. RIC VII 244. Brown surfaces. Good VF.

Ex 1989 Nether Compton (Dorset) Hoard.

"This massive hoard of 22,670 Roman coins was found by Mike Pittard while metal detecting in a field near Nether Compton on 19th February 1989. The field is by the side of a trackway, the other side of which is a known Roman building. The actual finding of the hoard was photographed and report was published in The Searcher magazine (Issue 44, April 1989). The hoard was deposited with the Yeovil Museum by the finder in 1989. It was subsequently returned to the finder, sold, and dispersed through the trade in 1994. No detailed record was made of the content of the hoard. The Pottery vessel and some 33 additional coins that had remained stuck to the pot were donated to the museum and remain there. Although Nether Compton was never recorded or published, a limited amount of information has been gleaned from people who have handled it or part of it. It was a very large mid-Constantinian hoard and typical in composition, all but about 7% consisting of the very common bronze issues of the AD 330s (the Urbs Roma and Constantinopolis commemoratives and the Gloria Exercitus Type in the names of Constantine I and his sons). There were no coins of the two Victories type suggesting that the hoard was deposited around AD 339."

[Heliodromus]

Though clearly unofficial, it was listed in the auction as official. It is also from the Nether Compton hoard.

Being part of a hoard, apparently good enough to pass as official at the time.

I guess an unofficial cent-sized bronze coin would have to be pretty bad to draw any attention. I doubt with my eyesight a coin like this would look suspect without magnification.

[Victor]

Nether Compton had quite a few unofficial coins in it, what I was commenting on was that the auction house had it listed as official.

[Heliodromus]

Yes, they certainly should have noticed.

But it's always interesting to see unofficial coins in hoards since gives an idea of what did or didn't pass back in the day (or what they cared about).

[Victor]

I think that as long as the coin was close in size, it could get mixed into a hoard-- especially one having 22,670 coins. This Constantinopolis, also from Nether-Compton, would not have fooled anyone that really looked at it; but, at 16mm, it was good. I think it also depends on who was hoarding the coins, as there are hoards with almost no unofficial coins and then some with lots-- probably also a regional thing.