Divus Claudius II Gothicus, died 270. Antoninianus (Bronze, 18 mm, 1.19 g, 12 h), a contemporary imitation, irregular mint, after 270/1. Radiate head of Divus Claudius II to right. Rev. Stylized altar with central pellet. Slightly porous, otherwise, very fine.
Few contemporary imitations are as radically simplified as this intriguing piece. While the portrait is still quite competently rendered, the legends have been omitted altogether - perhaps because the die engraver was illiterate? - and the altar has been reduced to a simple square geometric form with a central dot. Such pieces are not only attractive in their own right; they also remind those of us who spend years studying ancient coins in detail how little significance the elaborate iconography of Roman coinage may have held for illiterate contemporaries