Ave!

Constantine I, Barbarous Imitation, VIRTVS EXERCIT type

Æ3; 19mm/2.6gm    Struck ca. early 4th Century

Con/ About Very Fine for the type; dark green patina with earthen fill; typically blundered legends and details. Easy to clean, just soft dirt!

Okay, this is what the coin should be, sort of:

Obv/ CONSTANTINVS AVG (or similar); Laur., helmeted and cuir. bust r.

Rev/ VIRTVS EXERCIT; standard inscribed VOT X flanked by two bound captives; S/F in fields.

Close, but no cookie! Ha ha!

Ref/ None

Seller's Note/ The German celator who created this issue had some of grasp of Latin letters and did a worthy job, all things considered, as he was most likely semi-illiterate. Note on the reverse, he was rather spot of with the VIRTVS EXERCIT. He even added something in the exergue. A truly charming example.

Back in the day, such issues were referred to as 'Barbarous" or simply a "Barb".

The new PC term is now Contemporary Imitation, because somewhere along the line, it was thought that calling the Germanic tribes who struck these issues "barbarians" was disrespectful. Go figure...