Barbarous Radiate of Tetricus I
Mike Ruczynski said this 17mm in diameter base metal Roman coin turned up on the 11th of June. After examining his find Mike identified it was a coin of Tetricus but two Romans had this name and he didn’t know which one this was struck for.
On the obverse the legend reads MP C TETRICVS P F AV around a radiate head facing right. The legend is incomplete but is quite close to that used on coins of Tetricus I (AD 270-73), who is sometimes referred to as Tetricus Senior. On the reverse is a standing figure; the start of the legend does not show up but it ends with IVTCC.
The quality of the dies is reasonably good but the blundered legends mark this coin out as a ‘Barbarous Radiate’. Official Roman coins of the late 260s and the early 270s were copied in both Gaul and Britain. The quality varies, some copies being very close to official coins whilst others were very crude.   Â
Valuation
No collection of Roman coins could be said to be complete without at least one barbarous radiate. Mike’s find is a good example, which should be worth around £10 to a collector.
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