"Ten Roman Bronze Coins – Late Roman Imperial Collection Culture / Period: Ancient Roman Date / Period: Late 3rd–early 4th century AD Material: Bronze / copper alloy Dimensions: 17–25 mm Condition: Good archaeological condition, with varying degrees of wear, patination, surface deposits and oxidation consistent with age No shipping outside theopean Union. Due to complex export regulations concerning cultural goods, this item cannot be shipped outside the EU. Please ensure you have a delivery address within theopean Union before placing a bid. Provenance information: Object Registration ID: 886 The current owner (S.N.J. S.) purchased this collection of ten Roman bronze coins. The supplied provenance contains incomplete placeholder information concerning the previous owner, place of acquisition and acquisition date. These details therefore cannot be reliably stated. No further information concerning the earlier ownership history of the collection is available. Background Information: This collection comprises ten Roman bronze and copper-alloy coins from the later Roman Imperial period. The visible portraits, radiate crowns, legends and reverse types place the group principally within the monetary developments of the late 3rd and early 4th centuries AD. Among the rulers that can be identified with sufficient confidence from the surviving legends and portraits are Probus (AD 276–282) and Maximian (AD 286–305). Several other coins belong to the broader Tetrarchic and early 4th-century monetary system, but where the photographs do not permit a secure reading of the complete imperial legend, no individual attribution is made. A particularly clear coin bears a radiate portrait with a legend identifying Probus. His antoniniani belong to the extensive coinage produced during his reign following the political and military instability of the mid-3rd century. Another identifiable issue belongs to Maximian, colleague of Diocletian and one of the principal rulers of the Tetrarchic system established at the end of the 3rd century. The reverses include standing deities or personifications, paired figures and architectural types. Several show the characteristic fortified camp-gate design used on Roman bronze coinage of the early 4th century. Such imagery was carefully selected by the imperial administration to communicate concepts including military security, concord, victory and the stability of Roman authority. These coins were practical currency. Bronze and debased radiate denominations circulated through markets, workshops, military communities and households and were handled by soldiers, merchants, craftsmen and other inhabitants of the Empire. Their circulation was supported by an organised network of imperial mints producing large quantities of coinage for taxation, military expenditure, administration and commerce. Late Roman coins travelled extensively throughout the provinces, including Gaul, Britain and the Rhine frontier, and are consequently encountered across present-day France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Their changing portraits, inscriptions and denominations document the transformation of Roman government and monetary organisation between the Crisis of the Third Century and the Tetrarchic reforms. Together, these ten coins form a representative group of later Roman everyday currency, combining securely identifiable imperial issues with examples whose attribution is intentionally kept broader because of their state of preservation. They provide a direct and tangible connection to the monetary economy of the late Roman world and to the people who once used such coins in daily life."