Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Denarius circle and X, circle and X
| Issuer | Goths from Taman |
|---|---|
| Year | 275-325 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Highly stylized, schematically rendered barbarian effigy facing right, executed in a crude provincial manner characteristic of Gothic imitative coinage from the Taman region. The head is depicted with bold, simplified strokes, lacking fine detail, reflecting the degenerate artistic tradition of late Roman denarius imitations. The surrounding field is unadorned, and the flan exhibits an irregular, roughly circular shape with visible surface porosity and green patination consistent with prolonged burial. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Schematically rendered winged figure standing facing, rendered in a highly debased and abstract style typical of Gothic imitative issues from the northern Black Sea region. Flanking the central figure to the left and right are two sets of symbols each comprising a circle (annulet) and an X-form mark, interpreted as degraded renderings of Roman reverse iconography and legend elements. The execution is crude and deeply stylized, with bold raised lines and irregular flan edges; the surface retains a brown and green patina with areas of earthen encrustation. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The so-called "Taman denarii" are among the most debated coinages in late antique numismatics. Attributed to Gothic groups operating around the Taman Peninsula — the ancient Sindian and later Bosporan territory at the eastern end of the Crimea — their precise issuing authority remains contested. Some scholars assign them to Gothic federates drawing on degraded Roman monetary conventions; others see them as local imitations circulating in the power vacuum left by the collapse of the Bosporan Kingdom in the later third century.
The copper fabric and the broad date range reflect genuine uncertainty rather than established chronology.