A Dacian coin die discovered last year at the archaeological site of Tilisca and used more than 2,000 years ago to reproduce Roman Republican denarii will go on display at the History Museum from Friday, Lucian Blaga University researcher Silviu Purece announced at a press conference.

According to him, the artefact is the first of its kind to enter the collections of the Sibiu museum, while other coin dies previously discovered at Tilisca are held in Bucharest.

Presenting the exhibit, Silviu Purece explained that the coin die is probably of Dacian origin and was used to produce coins imitating Roman Republican denarii.

'It is a coin die, probably Dacian, obviously produced at Tilisca, and it copies a Roman Republican denarius. This practice has been documented at several Dacian sites and was probably fairly widespread. If we look at the barbarian world as a whole, Dacia is the area with the largest number of Roman Republican coin finds,' Purece said.

He stressed that the Dacians were not counterfeiting Roman currency but reproducing coins that respected the official standards of weight and metal purity.

'These Dacians who produced coins at Tilisca were probably copying Roman currency while maintaining the same standards, the same weight as the Roman Republican denarius and the same quality of metal. In practice, the coins had intrinsic value through their silver content and could be readily integrated into commercial transactions,' the researcher explained.

Specialists believe monetary activity at Tilisca lasted for several decades before the formation of Burebista's state.

Archaeologists are now trying to determine whether a genuine mint operated inside the Dacian fortress.

'We are trying to establish whether there really was a mint in the true sense of the word. Having coin dies alone is not enough; you also need tools,' Purece said.

The bronze die preserves in negative the image that was to be stamped on the coin. It was discovered in 2025 separately from the 14 coin dies unearthed at the same site several decades ago by archaeologist Nicolae Lupu.

Archaeologists consider the discoveries at Tilisca exceptional because of the unusually high number of coin dies identified in a single location.

'Tilisca stands out because of this high concentration of coin dies. No other site from this period has so many, which leads us to believe that a true coin-production centre may have existed here,' Purece added.

The die, together with coins produced with its help, can be seen at the History Museum of the Brukenthal National Museum as part of the exhibition '70 Years of Archaeological Research at the Dacian Fortress of Tilisca', which runs until August 30. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Isabela Paulescu; EN - writing by: Simona Iacob)