Irregular & Counterfeit Coins of Roman Britain

Illegitimate legitimacy, the story of Romano-British counterfeiting

A4 softback, 108 pages, full colour. £20.00

By far the most common coins found by detectorists are the Romano-British copies of the third and fourth centuries. They are often described as 'barbarous radiates' or even more disparagingly as 'Roman grots'. These little bronze offerings have a charm of their own and deserve more than to be condemned to a detectorist’s junk box or ignored by numismatists and archaeologists as being unimportant. The purpose of this book is to highlight some of the more interesting copies from Roman Britain and to show that they too tell a story. They form miniature pieces of art made by local British artisans for use by the Romano-British population.

This book aims to illustrate the range of copies found in a way that will be of interest to numismatists, archaeologists, collectors and detectorists – this book aims to foster in the reader an appreciation of an important aspect of the art of Roman Britain, and consign the description 'grots' to never ending banishment.

Book Review:

Hugh Williams, Irregular and Counterfeit Coins of Roman Britain (2024)

Any detectorist who has found large numbers of Roman coins will be well aware that many pieces are unofficial (irregular, counterfeit, contemporary copies) – we have many thousands of such coins on the PAS Database. Irregular Roman coins were produced throughout the period of occupation in Britain and, in this excellent book, Hugh Williams covers the full spectrum, from plated Roman Republican denarii to copies of late Roman silver siliquae. This volume provides an excellent overview of the different periods of forging in Roman Britain, giving the reader a comprehensive coverage of the many types of irregular coins which they are likely to find.

To aid identification of irregular coins, this book is lavishly furnished with many excellent images. This provides a wonderful pictorial overview of the material which is of great help to the reader. Williams is to be congratulated on producing a clear and accessible account of irregular coins in Britain, a volume which will be of enormous help to finders and recorders of Roman coins.

Dr Sam Moorhead

Greenwich, October 2024