See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration! or register with email

Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!

1/4 Siliqua In the name of Justin I and Theoderic, Sirmium, retrograde S with flat bust

Issuer Gepid Kingdom
Year 518-526
Type Log in to see details
Value Log in to see details
Currency Log in to see details
Composition Log in to see details
Weight 0.79 g
Diameter Log in to see details
Thickness Log in to see details
Shape Log in to see details
Technique Log in to see details
Orientation Log in to see details
Engraver(s) Log in to see details
In circulation to Log in to see details
Reference(s) Log in to see details
Obverse description Log in to see details
Obverse script Log in to see details
Obverse lettering Log in to see details
Reverse description Central field features the monogram of Theoderic, the Ostrogothic king, surmounted by a cross above. The monogram is rendered in a bold, angular style typical of late antique and early medieval Germanic coinage, set within a beaded border. A Latin legend, partially garbled and reflecting the barbarian engraver's limited familiarity with the script, surrounds the central device. The overall design imitates imperial Roman silver coinage conventions while displaying distinctly provincial execution.
Reverse script Latin
Reverse lettering Log in to see details
Edge Log in to see details
Mint Log in to see details
Mintage Log in to see details
Additional information

The Gepids occupied Sirmium — a city the Romans had ranked among the four most important in the empire — after the collapse of Hunnic power in the 450s, and they understood exactly what minting coinage in the names of Roman emperors was worth politically. Striking in Justin I's name while Theoderic still lived placed this issue in the precise diplomatic window when the Gepids were navigating loyalty signals to both Ravenna and Constantinople simultaneously.

The retrograde S is not an error. It appears consistently enough across the type to be a deliberate workshop convention, possibly a celator's mark or a regional habit of the Sirmium die-cutters working outside mainstream imperial production.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE