Analysis of a gold coin that portrays a long-forgotten Roman emperor and that was long considered a fake seems to indicate that the coin is authentic. Little is known about Sponsian, a possible Roman military commander or emperor who may have been active in the province of Dacia during the Crisis of the Third Century. This was a period of significant upheaval during which the Roman Empire almost collapsed due to civil war, plague, economic depression and repeated invasions.
Although none of the unearthed ancient documents mention Sponsian, historians theorized his existence from coins bearing his name that were discovered in Romania in 1713. The coins feature a different style and were manufactured in a different manner compared to traditional Roman coins of the time.
With unconventional features such as historically mixed motifs and bungled legends, the coins were long dismissed as forgeries and nearly forgotten to history. However, a new study by a researcher from the University College London suggests that the coins, which are currently housed at the University of Glasgow’s Hunterian collection, are the real deal.
The researcher compared the Sponsian gold coin to other Roman coins, including two that have been determined to be authentic, and found that the Sponsian coin seems to be as equally real. The Sponsian coins, discovered first in Romania and then in Transylvania, have been considered forgeries from the mid-19th century because their jumbled inscriptions and strange, often crude, design features looked nothing like typical Roman coins.
Paul N. Pearson, the study’s lead author, took a scientific approach to determine the authenticity of the coins, examining the minerals on their surface and comparing them to the minerals on authentic Roman coins. The team found that the composition of the minerals lined up with coins that had been buried for a long time under the sand before being exposed to air. Furthermore, the researchers also discovered wear and tear patterns on the coin that indicated that it had been actively circulated at a point in history.
Pearson said that the scientific analysis of these “ultra-rare coins” has rescued the virtually unknown emperor Sponsian from obscurity. He added that his team’s data indicated that Sponsian may have ruled over an isolated gold mining outpost called Roman Dacia during the Third Century Crisis. The ancient Roman province of Dacia is now located in modern-day Romania, Pearson explained, stating that Sponsian may have acted as a military leader when Dacia was cut off from the rest of the empire around 260CE.
Such discoveries bring a whole new meaning to the gold that is mined by companies such as Royal Gold Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLD) and sold for various end uses, such as minting coins.
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