Mutilated coins with possible Christian significance:
(click for images)
- Æ
semis of Domitian.
The cross of punched circles possibly represents the five wounds of Christ.
- 4th C.
Æ 3
cut to form a cross.
- Æ 17, the
obverse
smoothed and engraved with a star pattern,
possibly representing a Chi-Rho.
The
reverse
type is eagle stg. l. with
wings closed, probably Ptolemaic. This would mean the
coin was already very old when altered. For a very similar piece,
see CNG XXXIII, March 15, 1995 Sale, lot 1883, which is an altered
Æ of Rheskouporis V (318-337 A.D.), Bosporus, and thus during
Christian times. CNG mentions however these may have been used as
gaming tokens.
For a larger example (Antioch, Pisidia) with two intersecting lines
instead of three, plus an interesting discussion, see B. E. Levy,
"Another Converted Roman Coin?" Gazette Numismatique Suisse,
vol. 32, pp. 40-42, 1982.
Click here for another example:
obv:
rev: