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1 Aureus - Imitating Severus Alexander, 222-235
| Issuer | Uncertain Germanic tribes |
|---|---|
| Year | 250-325 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 4.99 g |
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| Obverse description | Bare or lightly draped bust of a youthful male ruler facing right, imitating the portrait style of Severus Alexander, set within a beaded border. The effigy displays simplified, somewhat barbarous engraving characteristic of Germanic imitative coinage, with a rounded skull and schematic facial features. A blundered pseudo-Latin legend surrounds the bust in the field, rendered in degraded imitation of imperial Roman titulature. The overall style reflects a provincial or tribal die-cutter working from a Roman prototype rather than official mint production. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Germanic imitations of Roman aurei occupy a narrow and poorly understood corner of numismatics. These pieces were not struck for circulation in any Roman sense — they functioned as prestige objects, gift currency, or diplomatic tokens within tribal hierarchies, often produced generations after the prototype had ceased to mean anything monetarily. The Severus Alexander aureus was a common model precisely because his reign produced abundant, well-distributed gold.
Attribution to specific tribal groups remains largely impossible without hoard provenance.