1 Nummus Imitating Vandal Kingdom Nummus

These tiny bronzes were struck — or more accurately, cast or crudely hammered — by communities operating outside any formal mint structure, copying Vandal nummi circulating in North Africa after 429 AD. Who exactly produced them remains genuinely unresolved; candidates range from Berber groups on the fringes of Vandal territory to traders moving goods across the southern Mediterranean littoral. The weight variance across known specimens is extreme, suggesting no enforced standard.

The Vandal nummus itself was already a debased, low-value piece with limited purchasing power. Imitating it implies a local need for the smallest unit of exchange where even inferior copies passed without objection.