According to a new study, a gold coin long dismissed as a forgery appears to be genuine and depicts a long-lost Roman emperor named Sponsian.
The coin, which is housed in The Hunterian collection at the University of Glasgow, was discovered in 1713 in Transylvania, which is now part of Romania. Because of their crude, strange design features and jumbled inscriptions, they have been regarded as forgeries since the mid-nineteenth century.
Researchers compared the Sponsion coin to other Roman coins kept at The Hunterian, including two known to be genuine, in the new study, published in PLOS ONE.
Ancient Roman coins reveal the long-lost emperor
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They discovered minerals on the coin's surface that were consistent with it having been buried in soil for a long time and then exposed to air, as per ScienceDaily.
Silica cemented these minerals in place, a process that occurs naturally over time in soil.
The team also discovered a pattern of wear and tear, indicating that the coin had been in active circulation.
According to lead author Professor Paul N. Pearson (UCL Earth Sciences), scientific examination of these ultra-rare coins saves Emperor Sponsian from obscurity.
Our evidence suggests that he ruled Roman Dacia, a remote gold mining outpost, during a period when the empire was racked by civil wars and the borderlands were overrun by plundering invaders.
The Roman province of Dacia, which straddled modern-day Romania, was prized for its gold mines.
Archaeological studies have revealed that the region was cut off from the rest of the Roman empire around the year 260 CE.
Sponsian, surrounded by enemies, could have been a local army officer forced to presume absolute authority during a period of chaos and civil war, safeguarding the army and citizen population of Dacia until order was restored and the province evacuated between 271 and 275 CE.
Coinage has long served as a symbol of power and authority. Recognizing this, and unable to receive official issues from the mint in Rome, Sponsian appears to have authorized the production of locally produced coins, some of which feature an image of his face, to support a functioning economy in his isolated border territory.
When the coins were discovered in the early 18th century, they were thought to be genuine and were grouped with other imitations of Roman coins made outside the empire's borders.
However, attitudes shifted beginning in the mid-nineteenth century. The appearance of the coins in the hoard led to their dismissal as forgeries. Until recently, this was the widely held belief.
The new research is the first scientific examination of any of the Sponsian coins.
To examine the surface of the coins, the researchers used powerful microscopes in visible and ultraviolet light, as well as scanning electron microscopy and spectroscopy (which studies how light at different wavelengths is absorbed or reflected).
Only four Sponsian coins are known to have survived to the present day, all of which are thought to have come from the 1713 hoard.
Another can be found in Sibiu, Romania, at the Brukenthal National Museum. Following the research on the coin at The Hunterian, high magnification microscopic analysis performed there revealed similar evidence of authenticity.
Jesper Ericsson, The Hunterian's Curator of Numismatics, stated, "This has been a really exciting project for The Hunterian, and we're delighted that our findings have inspired collaborative research with museum colleagues in Romania."
Four gold coins examined by researchers, including the Sponsian coin and other Roman coins previously dismissed as forgeries, are on display at The Hunterian at the University of Glasgow, and the Sponsian coin is also on public display at the Brukenthal National Museum.
With the increase of Roman influence in the Balkan region, Roman coins, particularly the silver denarius, began to circulate in the north of the Danube in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, as per NBR.
They gradually replaced Greek-Macedonian coins, and the history of the regions north of the Danube merged with the history of Roman coinage after the conquest of Dacia.
Following the withdrawal of the Roman administration from Dacia, the spread of Roman currencies in these territories continued (c. 275 AD).
The exhibition primarily features coins issued by emperors who made significant contributions to the fate of this province.
Visitors will be shown coins issued by Philip the Arab for the province of Dacia, as well as coinage issued by Trajan, Hadrian, Antonius Pius, and Septimius Severus. Important gold and bronze coins (aurei, sestertii, dupondii, akces, and quadrants) are displayed alongside the more numerous silver coins.
The koson type stater is by far the most well-known Dacian coin. Silver kosons are also featured in the exhibition at the NBR Museum.
With Anastasius' monetary reform of 498, Byzantine coins began to circulate, to give the bronze folles a stable value. Until the 15th century, these were widely circulated on Romanian territory.
The Wallachian mint was at its height during Mircea the Old and almost stopped operating altogether in the 15th century, due to the increase of the political and economic power of the Ottoman Empire in the region.
After that, there had been feeble attempts to issue currency by Mihnea III (1658) and Constantin Brâncoveanu, who ordered the minting of gold coin medals to celebrate his 25 years of reign.
The Moldavian monetary system has been established during the reign of Petru I Mușat and was made up of silver groats, half-groats, and later on double groats.
The Moldavian mint kept operating for a long while. One of the valuable pieces in this showcase is the akces of Ioan Vodă the Terrible (1572-1574), a large bronze coin, considered to be the first issue with a Romanian inscription.
