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1 Nummus Imitating Vandal Kingdom Nummus
| Issuer | Uncertain Germanic tribes |
|---|---|
| Year | 501-533 |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Crude bust of a ruler facing right, depicted in diademed and draped style imitating late Roman imperial portraiture. The effigy shows a pearl diadem or radiate crown atop the head, with simplified facial features characteristic of barbarous imitative coinage. The bust is rendered in a schematic, somewhat degenerate style compared to its Roman prototype, with visible drapery at the shoulder. Scattered pellets or dots appear in the field surrounding the bust. No clearly legible legend is present, consistent with the illiterate imitative tradition of Germanic nummi. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Crude and stylized figure, likely a standing or enthroned personification or ruler, rendered in a highly degenerate barbarous imitative style. The design appears to show a frontal or near-frontal figure with indistinct attributes, possibly a spear or scepter, reflecting the progressive degradation of the Vandal Kingdom nummus prototype. The field is largely plain, with the design occupying the central area of the flan. Strike is irregular and off-center in places, typical of Germanic imitative bronze coinage of this period. No legible inscription is discernible. |
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| Additional information |
These small bronzes were struck somewhere in North Africa or possibly Iberia during the decades when Vandal coinage itself was already an imitation of late Roman issues — making this a copy of a copy, stripped of any legitimate monetary authority. The issuing hand is unknown. Attribution to "uncertain Germanic tribes" acknowledges that the fabric, weight, and die execution fall outside what Carthage was producing under Geiseric's successors, but don't point clearly anywhere else.
Vandal nummi of this period circulated alongside Byzantine, Ostrogothic, and local imitative issues in a badly fragmented monetary environment. Justinian's reconquest of North Africa in 533 ended Vandal coinage entirely.