1 Aureus - Imitating an Uncertain Ruler

Barbarian imitations of Roman aurei from this period were not crude counterfeits intended to deceive — they circulated among tribal elites as prestige objects and gift currency, their value tied more to gold weight than to any claim of imperial legitimacy. The prototypes being copied were often decades old by the time the imitator's die was cut, which explains the frequent scrambling of legends into meaningless strings of letters by craftsmen who had no Latin.

At 6.34 g, this piece sits close to the Diocletianic reformed aureus standard, narrowing the likely prototype window considerably.