442, Lot: 526. Estimate $150. Sold for $150. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Gallienus. AD 253-268. Trial striking from antoninianus dies (24mm, 5.64 g, 11h). GALLIENVS AVG, radiate head right / P[A]X AVG, Pax standing left, holding olive branch and transverse sceptre. As MIR 36, 351a; as RIC V (sole reign) 256 var. (officina marked). VF, dark green brown surfaces.

Ex Pecunem/Gitbud & Naumann 37 (1 November 2015), lot 702.

This item was sold at auction as an ordinary antoninianus, but this is clearly not the case. The ragged and irregular nature of the flan, the weight (almost double the normal), and the severely off-centre striking of the reverse all indicate that this was a trial striking from new dies. The question remains of whether this took place at the mint in Rome as part of official mint activity or whether it represents the work of counterfeiters. The die-cutting shows the normal level of skill to be found at this period, and there is nothing to suggest that the dies were not prepared at the mint. The possibility remains, however, that they fell illegally into the hands of those who wished to use them to mint counterfeit coins.