Group of Seventeen [17] Roman AR Denarii.

Lugdunum mint; struck AD 276. 4th officina. IMP CL TACITVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / TEMPORVM FELICITAS, Felicitas standing facing, head to left, holding long caduceus with right hand and cornucopia with left; Δ in left field, star in right field. RIC V.1 65 (Gaul); MER-RIC 3325 (temporary). 4.44gr, 23mm, 12h.

Good Very Fine. Plenty of silvering remaining.

From a London, UK, collection, 1990s.

Uncertain mint. IVLIA AVGVSTA, draped bust to right / PIETAS AVGG, Pietas standing facing, head to left, holding incense box and sprinkling incense over lighted and garlanded altar to left. For prototype: RIC IV 572 (Severus); BMCRE 62; RSC 150. 2.56gr, 20mm, 12h.

Good Very Fine. Traces of silver wash on both sides.

From a private Barnsley, UK, family collection.

'Limes Denarii' (misnomer) are more or less faithful bronze copies of silver Denarii, minted on the fringes of the empire out of necessity. Perhaps they may be officially sanctioned issues for use in regions where political unrest made it hazardous to ship large amounts of silver. These low value issues could have served troops on the front and been redeemable for good coinage when they returned to the stable regions. Were they a form of military scrip meant to keep large quantities of precious metal from falling into enemy hands in the event of a defeat?

Lugdunum mint; struck 15-10 BC. CAESAR PONT MAX, laureate head to right / Front elevation of the Altar of Lugdunum, decorated with the corona civica between laurels, flanked by nude male figures, Victories on columns to left and right facing one another; ROM ET AVG in exergue. RIC I 230; BMCRE 550. 11.58gr, 26mm, 6h.

Near Very Fine.

From the collection of a London antiquarian, formed since the 1980s.