British Iron Age Coins, Ancient Coins, and Antiquities

Roman Imperial Coinage, Carausius, Denarius, London, 286, imp caravsivs pf avg, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, rev. renovat romano, she-wolf right suckling Romulus and Remus, rsr in exergue, 3.73g (RIC V.5 117 [V 571]; Shiel 68ff; RSC 82). A few light marks and hairline striking split at 6 o’clock, otherwise good very fine, struck from dies of accomplished classical style; very rare thus £4,000-£5,000

found near Cheriton (Hampshire) in 2023 (PAS HAMP-AD1661)

The legend RSR seen on the reverse of this coin has been recognised by Guy de la Bédoyère as the initials of an extract from Virgil’s Eclogues, Redeunt Saturnia Regna (the Kingdom of Saturn returns). Similar extracts from Virgil are seen elsewhere on Carausius’ coinage, and as Graham Barker has argued, this formed part of a wider policy of imperial propaganda that through coin legends and iconography cast Carausius as a true successor August and displayed the usurper’s rule as the catalyst for another golden age.
The weights of Carausian Denarii have been subject to similar analysis. Estiot argued that Carausius struck his Denarii at an ideal weight of 3.90g, or 84 to the Roman pound, on the long since abandoned Augustan standard. This theory aligns well with the imagery deployed here which recalls the mythical founding of Rome.