Gephyra (Nov 2018)
Countermarks in the Name “Galba” on Roman Imperial and Provincial Coinages: Considerations on the Countermarks and the Circulation of Local Bronze Coins in Pannonia (?), Moesia, Thrace and Asia Minor (?)
Abstract
This article investigates the eight different imperial countermarks with Latin and Greek legends that use the name “Galba,” either spelled out or abbreviated, in order to verify, correct, and update the sequence of known types, cataloguing specimens identified since publication of RPC-I, on the one hand, and, on the other, describing the social context where the countermarking operation was set up around the lower Danube limes and the province of Pontus et Bithynia, activity in keeping with the Galba’s imperial policy. It singles out questions over the areas where the countermarks were struck and the coinage distributed, offering concise discussion of these problems that takes into account important new evidence from recently documented specimens. Certain facets of both the minting and circulation of imperial bronze coinage that had not been properly assessed heretofore are limned. Special attention is paid to the moneying operations of the Roman Legionary administration, run, of course, in close coordination with the provincial administrative apparatus. The reading of two countermarks has been corrected, compared to the GIC catalog. Three new countermark types have also been identified. Finally, the catalog devotes a section to modern forgeries, specimens found rather often, whose lack of proper documentation may make it impossible to ascertain the nature of the counterfeiting.
Keywords
