THE VARIETIES

The varieties on Pilate's coins are a fascinating subject of study. The most spectacular are those with retrograde motifs, with errors in texts or dates. These faults may have been due to the employment of apprentices or unskilled workers when the pressure of work was urgent because an insufficient  quantity of coins was minted at the proper time, or perhaps work was farmed out to inferior workshops to make up for too low a rate of productivity in the official mints.