Catalog
1 Aureus - Imitating Maximian, 285-305
| Issuer | Uncertain Germanic tribes |
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| Year | 285-301 |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Laureate bust of Maximian facing left, rendered in a somewhat barbaric style characteristic of Germanic imitations. The emperor's effigy displays a laurel wreath and a simplified draped treatment of the shoulder. A retrograde or irregular Latin legend encircles the bust in the field, reading MAXIMIANVS AVGVSTVS. The portrait, while clearly derived from official Roman prototypes, exhibits the cruder engraving typical of barbarian struck imitations. |
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| Reverse description | The emperor on horseback advancing to the right, his right hand raised in a gesture of salute or acclamation, in a composition closely imitating official Tetrarchic aurei. The horse is rendered in a simplified, somewhat stylized manner consistent with barbarian workshop execution. A Latin legend surrounds the design in the field, referencing the consular title. The overall composition reflects a Germanic craftsman's attempt to replicate the equestrian reverse type common to Maximian's coinage. |
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Barbarous gold imitations of late Roman aurei present one of the more persistent puzzles in late antique numismatics — who struck them, for whom, and under what authority remains genuinely contested. Issues imitating Maximian, struck somewhere beyond the Rhine or Danube frontier during his reign as Augustus of the West, likely circulated as prestige objects or diplomatic instruments rather than everyday exchange. Roman gold crossed the frontier in enormous quantities as subsidies and payments to Germanic federates; local copies may reflect an attempt to participate in that economy without access to imperial mints.
The Calicó reference places this within a broader Iberian collection context, which itself raises questions about how far such pieces traveled.