1/4 Siliqua Retrograde staurogram

The staurogram — a monogram combining the Greek letters tau and rho — predates the Chi-Rho as a Christological symbol and appears here in retrograde, suggesting either a die-cutter working from an unmarked punch or, more plausibly, a copyist who did not read Latin script. These fractional siliquae circulated across the former Western provinces during the long administrative vacuum between the collapse of Roman fiscal infrastructure and the consolidation of Frankish monetary authority. Attribution remains genuinely contested; "uncertain Germanic tribes" is less a classification than an admission.