1 Aureus - Imitating Elagabalus, 218-222

Barbarian imitations of Roman aurei are poorly understood as a group, and those copying Elagabalus specifically present a dating problem — the prototype coins were already a generation or two old by the time Germanic goldsmiths began reproducing them. Whether these circulated as currency, functioned as prestige objects, or served votive purposes remains genuinely contested among specialists.

The Calicó reference here is comparative only, which is characteristic of the type: no two barbarian imitations are fully identical, and die links within the series are rare enough that individual pieces resist clean attribution to a specific workshop or tribe.