A Late Roman coin-hoard from Tunisia in the RGZM. Investigations into circulation, striking and hoarding of imitations in the late 3rd century in North Africa

Abstract

In 1986 the RGZM bought a Late Roman coin-hoard which had been found at an unknown point of time and location in Tunisia. Disregarding five bronze coins of the 4th-5th century, which were probably only added to the hoard after its discovery, the hoard comprises 378 imitations of the late 3rd century. The official prototypes of these imitations are the consecration coins of Claudius II. (Divo Claudio) minted in Rome around 270, as well as the antoniniani of the Gallic usurpers Victorinus (269-271) and Tetricus (271-274) struck in Trier and Cologne. The imitations of the Gallic Empire exceed in number those of the Divo Claudio imitations. A part of the imitations found in the Tunisian hoard was produced in the 270ies and 280ies in illegal local workshops in Italy and Gaul, whence they found their way to North Africa. However, the Tunisian hoard in the RGZM provides a significant assemblage of Divo Claudio imitations, which owing to their style are connected to one another and with other North African coin-hoards. As a result of these observations, we conclude that there was a North African production of Divo Claudio imitations. Moreover, the strong affinity of Victorinus and Tetricus imitations within the Tunisian hoard in the RGZM with comparable pieces in Algerian coin-hoards (Announa I and II) proves that coins of the Gallic usurpers were also struck in North Africa.
The Tunisian hoard in the RGZM, which was hidden at the beginning of the 4th century at the latest, shows that the intensive striking of imitations from the 270ies and 280ies was not restricted to Gaul and Britain, but also occurred in the North African provinces. Together with the other coin-hoards  of group IV (tab. 2) it bears witness to the currency crisis (inflation, lack of money) which gripped the provinces of Africa Proconsularis and Numidia in the final third of the 3rd century.