Forgotten Emperor’s Roman Coin Confirmed Authentic

A new study confirms the authenticity of an ancient Roman coin long thought to be a fake.

The study, published Wednesday in PLOS ONE, shows that the gold coins housed in the Hunterian Collection at the University of Glasgow in Scotland are indeed genuine and contain an image of the Roman Emperor Sponsian.

This coin is one of the few coins unearthed in Transylvania, now Romania, in 1713.

However, the coins have been considered counterfeits since the mid-19th century “because of their crude and odd design features and jumbled inscriptions,” researchers said.

“Scientific analysis of these ultra-rare coins has saved the Emperor Sponsian from obscurity,” said Paul Pearson, professor of geosciences at University College London who led the study, in a news release.

“Our evidence suggests that he ruled Roman Dacia, an isolated gold mining outpost, at a time when the empire was plagued by civil war and its borderlands were invaded by invaders. .”

Researchers say Dacia, a Roman province that overlapped with modern-day Romania, was valued for its gold mines.

According to them, archaeological studies show that the area was cut off from the rest of the Roman Empire around 260 AD (AD).

The Sponsian was a local army force forced to assume the highest command during this civil war to protect Dacian forces and civilians before the state was evacuated between 271 and 275 AD. It could have been an officer, researchers say.

They add that the Sponsian may have authorized the creation of locally produced coins to support an isolated economy.

In this study, researchers used a powerful microscope and both visible and ultraviolet light to study the coin’s surface. They also compared Sponsia coins to other Roman coins in The Hunterian.

The minerals on the coin’s surface, they say, indicate that the coin was buried in soil for a long period of time and later exposed to air. The coins also show signs of wear and tear, suggesting they were in active circulation.

“This is a very exciting project for The Hunterian, and we are pleased that our findings have inspired a joint study with our colleagues in Romanian museums,” said The Hunterian curator Jesper Ericsson said.

“We hope that this will not only encourage further discussion of Sponsian as a historical figure, but also the investigation of coins associated with him that are kept in other museums across Europe.”