COINS OBSCURITY CALLS : RESCUE

 

London : A forgotten Roman emperor has been rescued from ''obscurity'' after UK researchers determined a coin long dismissed as fake was in fact authentic.

The coin featuring the profile of an emperor named Sponsian was among a handful of similar coins found in Transylvania in present-day Romania in 1713. They had been considered fakes since the mid-19th century due to their jumbled inscriptions and unusual design.

But researchers who studied one of the coins housed at The Hunterian collection at the University of Glasgow in Scotland have now concluded that the coin is genuine after comparison with others with a similar history.

''Scientific analysis of these ultra-rare coins rescues the emperor Sponsian from obscurity,'' said lead author Professor Paul Pearson. [AFP]