IMITATII MONETARE ÎN SPATIUL BARBAR DINTRE PROVINCIILE ROMANE DACIA SI PANNONIA
COIN IMITATIONS IN THE BARBARIAN SPACE BETWEEN THE ROMAN PROVINCES OF DACIA AND PANNONIA

Summary/Abstract: The several coin imitations, dated in 2nd – 4th centuries, discovered in Barbarian territories between the Roman provinces Dacia and Pannonia, are an important indicator to determinate the economic and social role of the coins in Barbarian societies. The majority of them are part of some hoards, but we know eleven spots (from a total of more than 300 isolated discoveries) where were found this kind of monetary pieces as isolated finds. There are two occurrences of coins with astral symbols represented, which were used as amulets, but for the majority of cases it is assumed that the imitations could have played a commercial role. Some specialists consider that they were struck in barbarian mints, others think that they were issues of the official Roman mint. Recent discoveries from all the Roman provinces prove that the emission of some semi-official coins, very often used for necessity, was a well known practice. Therefore the coin imitations found between Dacia and Pannonia could have been produced in some neighboring Roman province. It is obvious, that the Barbarians copied monetary types they already knew, and used these copies not only as means of payment, but also as badges of social rank. The mere fact that these imitations appear both in settlements and in the composition of some hoards prove that their possessors considered them equally valued to the official coins.

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