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 Bulletin du Cercle d’études
numismatiques
Cercle d’études numismatiques
Volume 58, n° 1 (Janvier - Avril 2021)
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An unpublished aureus of the emperor Aemilian,
8
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1
 BCEN
58/1
[2021]
An unpublished aureus of the emperor
Aemilian, discovered in Ukraine
by Kyrylo Myzgin1
Résumé : En 2017 fut découvert dans le centre de l’Ukraine un aureus troué d’Emilien, qui constitue le second exemplaire connu de
ce type et la cinquième monnaie d’or authentique de ce bref règne.
Abstract : In 2017, in central Ukraine, an aureus, holed, of the emperor Aemilian was discovered. It is only the second known of its type
and the fifth (authentic) aureus known for this brief reign.
On September 18, 2017, an individual called ‘Less’
published on a Ukrainian forum for treasure-
hunters information on the discovery of a gold
coin, and asked fellow readers to help it its
attribution2. This post was accompanied by two
photographs showing the coin’s obverse and
reverse. A few minutes after the publication of
the post, forum users identified this coin as a
rare aureus of the emperor Aemilian (253 CE).
Three days later, on September 21, 2017, this coin
was offered for sale at the Violity auction with
the starting price of 1 hryvnia3. A week later, on
September 28, 2017, and following active bidding
(330 bids), a certain ‘maxim78’ purchased the lot
for the sum of 1,412,161 hryvnias4, which made
this coin one of the most expensive Greco-Roman
coins in the history of that auction house. We are
not aware of what became of the coin following
this sale.
The coin weighs 3.09 grams and measures 20 mm
in diameter; the die alignment is 6:00. At 11:00
(obverse) to the left above the emperor’s head
there is a hole measuring approximately 2 mm
in diameter; it appears that the coin was pierced
from the obverse. The coin is otherwise in a good
state of preservation; there is a small crack at 5:00
on the obverse. The coin is described in RIC IV/3
(Aemilian) as type 3a, in Calicó as #3379. The type
is described as follows: “obv: IMP AEMILIANVS
PIVS FEL AVG; bust of Aemilian, laureate, draped,
cuirassed, right; rev: ERCVL VICTORI; showing
Hercules, nude, lion-skin draped over his left arm,
standing right, resting his right hand on a club and
holding bow in left hand” (fig. 1). The coin was
struck and issued in 253 CE, by the mint at Rome.
8
fig. 1
(scale 1:1)
There is unfortunately no information on the
findspot or the circumstances under which
the coin was discovered. All we know of the
provenance is that it was discovered ‘Kyiv oblast’
– in the region of Kiev - we can only suggest that
the coin was discovered in central Ukraine.
The coin presented here is only the second
known specimen of an aureus of Aemilian of that
type. The other specimen is in the collection of
the British Museum (inv. no. 1864,1128.127)5;
donated by Mr. Edward Wigan in 1864 (fig. 2)6.
Comparative analysis of both coins shows that
they were both struck from the same pair of
dies, though our example was produced with
a larger flan. In contrast to the example in the
British Museum, that presented here retains the
beaded border on either side. Certain elements
of the coin, particularly the wreath on Hercules’s
head, suggest that the Ukrainian specimen was
struck after the piece in the British Museum. It
is also evident that that discussed here initially
weighed more than its British counterpart, with
a few tenths of a gram being lost when the coin
was pierced7.
Only three types of aurei are known from the
reign of Aemilian; the issues themselves were
probably quite limited. There are very few
Fig. 1 – Aureus of Aemilian of the type RIC IV/3
3a, found in 2017, in Central Ukraine:
3.09 g.
1. Faculty of History, University
of Warsaw (Warsaw, Poland):
kvmyzgin@gmail.com
2. https://forum.violity.com/viewtopic.
php?t=1779539 (access data:
17.10.2020).
3. 0.031 euros (!) according to the
exchange rate established by the
National Bank of Ukraine for the date
in question.
4. 45,433.69 euros according to the
exchange rate established by the
National Bank of Ukraine for the
date in question. Unfortunately, the
link to the lot was deleted from the
auction archive; only a screenshot
now survives.
5. This coin: COHEN 1892, p. 288,
no. 12; RIC IV/3, p. 194, no. 3a; KENT
& HIRMER 1978, p. 313, no. 477;
RAMBACH 2017, p. 15, Specimen
A-3a.
6. https://www.britishmuseum.org/
collection/object/C_1864-1128-127.
The coin weights 3.1 g, and measures
19 mm; its die alignment is 6:00.
According to Hadrien Rambach,
this coin was formerly a part of
the collection of Prosper Dupré
(1771–1866), bought en-bloc by Mr.
Wigan.
7. The images show that most of the
metal displaced by the piercing
is probably retained in the ring
(produced by the piercing) on the
reverse.
 fig. 1
(scale 3:1)
recorded examples of such coins; only four
aurei of Aemilian were previously known8. All
of these are reported to be individual finds. The
reasons for this are obvious: Aemilian’s reign
lasted for a few months only and he appears to
have been the subject of a damnatio memoriæ
following his downfall9. Our intention here is not
to make a detailed analysis of the gold coinage
of Aemilian, especially since such was recently,
and excellently, addressed by Hadrian Rambach10.
In this author’s opinion, more interesting is the
question of how this coin travelled-to and was
discovered so far from the borders of the Roman
Empire.
Finds of Roman gold coins in the territory of
present-day Ukraine are almost all related to
archaeological sites of the Cherniakhiv / Sântana
de Mureș culture, which existed in this region
between the second and fifth centuries of the
Common Era. The ethnic core of this culture
consisted of the Eastern Germanic tribes (‘the
Goths’) who migrated there from the territory
of modern Poland in the early third century.
This culture was shaped to a great extent by the
influence of the various non-Roman populations
which participated in the so-called Gothic Wars.
By the early fourth century this culture had
expanded to occupy vast areas from Muntenia
(modern Wallachia) and Transylvania in modern
fig. 2
(scale 3:1)
Romania to the basin of the river Seim in south-
western Russia. It is probable that the migration
of the Huns in the early part of the fifth century
brought-about the effective end of this culture11.
It is important to note that the development of
the Cherniakhiv / Sântana de Mureș culture was
directly related to various Roman influences.
This is demonstrated by the large numbers of
Roman imports discovered in the region. Along
with amphorae, coins were the most widespread
type of item imported12. To date, archaeologists
have discovered examples of every basic Roman
denomination in use from the first to the fifth
centuries, including bronze coins issued from
provincial mints. Roman denarii make-up the
overwhelming majority of the coins discovered13.
Regarding finds of Roman gold coins, the vast
majority are third-century aurei - of which at least
492 had been recorded by early 201914.
Recently, the discovery-of and research on the
finds of third-century aurei in the east-central
Barbaricum have revealed a number of important
and interesting discoveries, particularly concer-
ning the aurei minted under the emperors
Gordian III (238-244), Philip I ‘the Arab’ (244-249)
and Trajan Decius (249-251). By early 2019,
documented finds of these coins had reached
25415, with the majority (81.23%) discovered
in the territory of present-day Ukraine. Most
Fig. 2 – Aureus of Aemilian of the type RIC IV/3
3a, from the British Museum collection,
inv. no. 1864,1128.127 : 3.1 g.
8. RAMBACH 2017, p. 7 and 14–15.
9. Rambach has analysed this question
in detail (cf. RAMBACH 2017, p. 8
and footnote 45). There are some
researchers who consider that
when Valerian became emperor he
withdrew and melted down the aurei
of Aemilian (cf. HOSTEIN 2004, p. 224;
DOYEN forthcoming).
10. RAMBACH 2017, p. 2–33; this
publication also supplies a review of
the scholarship on the question.
11. For details concerning the
Cherniakhov/ Sântana de Mureș
culture see: KAZANSKI 1991, p 29–59;
SHCHUKIN, KAZANSKI & SHAROV
2006, p. 37-55.
12. Just before the “age of metal-
detectors”, i. e. prior to the early
2000s, the known finds included
26,000 coins plus, isolated finds and
hoards in particular (cf. KROPOTKIN
2005). This number could be
multiplied, today, by a factor of 10
or 15.
13. MYZGIN 2018, p. 87.
14. BURSCHE & MYZGIN 2020, p. 215,
fig. 9.
15. Ibid., p. 215, fig. 9.
9
 of these aurei were of Trajan Decius (75%); the
remainder coming from the reigns of the young
Gordian III (19.5%) and Philip I (5.5%)16. It is
important to note that 82.97% of these coins
were pierced, almost always above the head on
the obverse portrait. The discovery of so many
aurei from the middle of the third century and in
the east-central Barbaricum stems directly from
the defeat of Trajan Decius and his army, and the
subsequent capture of the imperial treasury, by a
federation of Goths at the Battle of Abritus (near
modern Razgrad, Bulgaria) in the summer of
251 CE17. That many of the aurei discovered in the
region of modern Ukraine are holed is testament
to the fact that these were probably worn as
pendants, following this engagement, meant to
underline the owner’s participation in the defeat
of the Roman army.
Less well understood are the reasons behind the
appearance, in Ukraine, of so many aurei minted
after events of the Battle of Abritus. By early 2019,
at least 198 aurei minted between the reigns of
Trebonianus Gallus and Maximianus Herculius
(251-305 CE) had been discovered in the east-
central Barbaricum18. The most common of these
are from the reigns of Gallienus (36 specimens),
Aurelian (32 specimens), Probus (25 specimens),
Diocletian (23 specimens), and Maximianus
Herculius (25 specimens). This is doubtful that
the distribution of these coins in the Barbaricum
was related, in totality, to the results of successful
battles fought by the ‘barbarians’, as was probably
the case with the majority aurei minted prior to
251. In this case, the sources and methods of
distribution appear to have been more varied. It
appears that following the victory at Abritus and
the capture of the imperial treasury (no doubt
containing a large number of gold coins) the
local Germanic populations developed a tradition
of underlining one’s elevated social status by
the wearing of pendants made from pierced
aurei. From the last third of the third century
the fashion of applying specialized loops (for
hanging) to these coins became widespread19.
There were probably different sources for the
supply of these gold coins. On the one hand, they
could have resulted from booty taken during
raids into Roman provinces which, as is well
documented, continued up to the mid-270s CE20.
Also possible is that Gothic troops recruited both
by the central Roman government as well as
their enemies (i.e. the rulers of the Gallic Empire
and other usurpers) were paid in Roman gold
coins which were subsequently returned to the
Barbaricum upon their return21.
In this present case, and especially when taking
into account the general rarity of aurei, it is not
easy to figure-out when, or by what means, our
10
coin first reached ‘barbarian’ hands. Perhaps
other coins of this emperor discovered in the
territory of modern Ukraine can suggest a hint.
From the treasure hunters’ forum, we know of
least another 20 coins of Aemilian discovered
in the Ukraine - two antoniniani and 18 bronze
provincial coins22. A figure which stands-out
here is that the majority of the provincial coins
found are from the border-town of Viminacium
(modern Kostolac, Serbia) in the province of
Moesia Superior (reverse type: “PMS COL VIM”)
(16 coins); the other two coins are one coin each
from Apulum, in Dacia (reverse type: “PROVINCIA
DACIA”) and Parium, in Mysia (Anatolia). It is
well understood that provincial coins circulated
mostly locally. If the main circulation area of
the coins from Viminacium were the Roman
provinces on and near the Danube, we can
assume that most of the other types of coinages
found in the Ukraine, including the aureus of
Aemilian, originated from this same area.
Before looking into why this aureus appeared
in the Barbaricum, let us examine another
aureus of Aemilian from the nineteenth-century
collection of Hyman Montagu. As can been seen
in Figure 3, and discussed by H. Rambach, this
coin has also been holed23. At present there
seems to be no doubt that the piercing of most
third-century aurei indicates their secondary use
as pendants in the extra-Roman environment. We
believe that this suggests that the aureus from
the Montagu collection had also been discovered
in the east-central Barbaricum area and had been
used in a similar manner. If this were to be the
case then at least two of the five known aurei
of Aemilian originated (in modern times) from
Fig. 3 – Aureus of Aemilian of the type RIC IV/3
outside of the Roman limes. 2a from a private collection in Switzer-
land, formerly a part of the Hyman
Montagu’s collection. Photographed
in 1897.
16. Ibid., p. 212.
17. BURSCHE 2013, p. 163–164;
BURSCHE & MYZGIN 2020, p. 195–
fig. 3 196.
18. BURSCHE & MYZGIN 2020, p. 215,
fig. 9.
It seems unlikely that Aemilian, in the short 19. MYZGIN 2015, р. 139–140.
period he ruled Rome, would have brought 20. WOLFRAM 2001, p. 65; SALAMON
‘barbarian’ troops into his service. Quite on the 1971, p. 139.
contrary, it is well-known that he was an enemy 21. cf. MATHISEN 2020, p. 272–273.
of the non-Romans and was proclaimed emperor
for his successes in Rome’s struggle against them 22. This material has not been published
yet.
[Zos. I. 28]. We would argue then that those aurei
of Aemilian found in the Barbaricum appeared 23. RAMBACH 2017, p. 14-15 and
footnote 80, Specimen A-2b, and
there only after the end of his short reign and by following literature.
means other than his own. As discussed above,
there is good reason to suppose that these coins
were freely given to barbarian groups, perhaps
as a result of a policy of damnatio memoriæ. It is
also well-understood that non-Roman military
units were paid for their services in Roman gold,
others were given gifts (diplomatic or otherwise)
while still others were paid ransom(s) to either
return Roman hostages and / or to leave Roman
lands. In this scenario it is not impossible that
Aemilian’s immediate successors, the emperors
Valerian and Gallienus, saw the opportunity
to ‘kill two birds with one stone’ so to speak:
they could satisfy the ‘barbarians’ need for gold
while simultaneously ridding themselves of the
various types of currencies which were either not
wanted / needed or (then) politically unwelcome
for circulation within the empire – those of the
defeated usurper Aemilian.
This, however, is just one of the many possible
KENT & HIRMER 1978
J. P. C. KENT, M. HIRMER & A. HIRMER, Roman coins, revised edition from
the German, London, 1978.
KROPOTKIN 2005
V.V. KROPOTKIN, Les trouvailles de monnaies romaines en U.R.S.S,
Wetteren, 2005 (Collection Moneta 49).
MATHISEN 2020
R. W. MATHISEN, Goths as Auxiliary Forces in the Roman Army, in: F.
MITTHOF, G. MARTIN & J. GRUSKOVÁ (eds.), Empire in Crisis: Gothic
Invasions and Roman Historiography, Wien, 2020, p. 263-286.
MYZGIN 2015
K. MYZGIN, O vremeni poyavleniya ushek na zolotykh rimskikh
monetakh v Barbarikume, Stratum plus 6, 2015, p. 131-140.
MYZGIN 2018
K. MYZGIN, Finds of Roman provincial coins on the territory of Eastern
Europe: Balkan cities mintage. In: V. IVANIŠEVIĆ, B. BORIĆ-BREŠKOVIĆ
& M. VOJVODA (eds.), Proceedings of the International Numismatic
Symposium “Circulation of the antique coins in Southeastern Europe”,
Viminacium, Serbia, September 15th to 17th, 2017, Belgrade, 2018, p. 87-
103.
RAMBACH 2017
H. RAMBACH, Notes on the gold coinage of Aemilian, Bulletin du Cercle
d’études numismatiques 54/3, 2017, p. 2-33.

justifications for explaining how and why such RIC IV/3

coinage(s) penetrated into the east-central non-
Roman environment. We also acknowledge that
the discovery of one, or indeed even two, holed
aurei is not enough to conclusively interpret or
justify a hypothesis.
H. MATTINGLY, E. A. SYDENHAM & C. H. V. SUTHERLAND, The Roman
Imperial Coinage. Vol. IV – Part III: Gordian III – Uranius Antoninus,
London, 1949.
SALAMON 1971
M. SALAMON, The Chronology of Gothic Incursions into Asia Minor in
the 3rd Century, Eos 59, p. 136-148.

SHCHUKIN, KAZANSKI & SHAROV 2006

Acknowledgments: This publication has been
prepared within the framework of the project
‘Crisis of the Roman Empire in the 3rd c.: causes
and reflection in ancient sources’ (DEC-2017/25/B/
HS3/01299). I am grateful to Michel Kazanski,
Hadrien Rambach, and Adam Ziółkowski for their
consultations and substantial assistance.
M. SHCHUKIN, M. KAZANSK & O. SHAROV, Des Goths aux Huns : Le nord
de la mer Noire au Bas-Empire et à l’époque des Grandes Migrations,
Oxford, 2006 (BAR Int. Ser. 1535).
WOLFRAM 2001
H. WOLFRAM, Die Goten. Von den Anfängen bis zur Mitte des sechsten
Jahrhunderts. Entwurf einer historischen Ethnographie, 3., 4. und 5. Aufl.,
München, 2001.

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A. BURSCHE & K. MYZGIN, Mid-3rd century Gothic invasions: coins and
archaeology in Barbaricum, Journal of Roman Archaeology 33, 2020,
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A. BURSCHE, The battle of Abritus, the Imperial treasury and aurei in
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CALICÓ 2003
X. CALICÓ, The Roman Avrei catalogue, vol. II, Barcelona, 2003.

COHEN 1892
H. COHEN, Description des monnaies frappées sous l'Empire romain
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DOYEN 1989
J.-M. DOYEN, L'atelier de Milan (258 - 268). Recherches sur la chronologie
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A. HOSTEIN, Monnaie et damnatio memoriae (Ier-IVe siècle ap. J.-C.):
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11