Roman coins, considered fake for centuries, could be real

In 1713, a medal inspector documented the acquisition of eight gold Roman coins that had been buried in Transylvania. For centuries, experts believed they were fakes, and poorly made.

The coins featured an image of an unknown leader and features that differed from other Roman coins from the mid-3rd century. But now researchers have re-examined the coins, which were in a collection at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and say they can, in fact, , be authentic.

The coin’s design was unusual for the time, and the man depicted on them, Sponsianus, is almost lost to history. The coins included references to “confusing legends and historically mixed motifs”, experts said.

Research published Wednesday in the journal Plos One posited that the coins — and Sponsianus, the man depicted — deserved another look.

Using modern imaging technologies, the researchers said they found “deep patterns of microabrasion” that were “typically associated with coins that have been in circulation for a long period of time”.

In addition, the researchers analyzed earth deposits, finding what they considered to be evidence that the coins spent a long time buried before being exhumed.

The coins are also atypical of counterfeits from the era they were found, the researchers said.

The name Sponsianus would not have been an obvious choice for forgers centuries later, as he was an obscure figure, as the team of researchers discovered. It was hoped that the research could bring him back into focus as a minor historical figure. On the coin, he is depicted with a crown like those worn by emperors.

“Nothing can be known about it with certainty, but the coins themselves, together with the provenance recorded by Heraeus, provide clues to their possible place in history,” the researchers wrote, referring to Sponsianus and Carl Gustav Heraeus. It was Heraeus, inspector of medals for the Imperial Collection in Vienna, who documented the acquisition of the coins in 1713.

In her column in the New York Times Literary Supplement, Mary Beard, professor of classics at the University of Cambridge, UK, pointed to the composition of the coins among the factors that raised doubts about their authenticity. “There is still very powerful evidence that they are false,” she wrote.