Sale: Nomos 2, Lot: 9. Estimate CHF850.  Closing Date: Monday, 17 May 2010.  Sold For CHF680. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Geto-Dacians. 1st century BC. Denarius (Silver, 4.80 g 9), an imitation of the issues of C. Norbanus, minted in BC 83. ΛEX VXΛIVΛ Diademed head of Venus to right. Rev. Corn ear, fasces with ax and caduceus. A remarkable piece, heavy and unusually well struck and preserved. Extremely fine.

The Balkan peoples seem to have had a particular fondness for the denarii of the Roman Republic. Not only were large numbers of those coins shipped there for use in antiquity, but the local peoples, the Geto-Dacians, made large numbers of imitations as well. These coins were usually of good silver, so we should not think of them as forgeries, but, rather, as supplementary issues produced due to their great popularity.