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1 Quinarius - Imitating an Uncertain Ruler
| Issuer | Uncertain Germanic tribes |
|---|---|
| Year | 290-325 |
| Type | Non-circulating coin |
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| Obverse description | Bare-headed male bust facing right, rendered in a barbarous imitative style with simplified facial features and schematic hair treatment. The effigy is surrounded by a beaded border enclosing a garbled Latin legend. The lettering, reading CON - OZA, represents a debased imitation of Roman imperial coin inscriptions, reflecting the hand of a non-Roman engraver. The overall execution is characteristic of Germanic barbarous imitations of late Roman gold coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A winged figure, likely a barbarous rendering of Victory, seated facing left and holding an indeterminate object, possibly a wreath or palm branch, rendered in a simplified and schematic style consistent with Germanic imitative coinage. The figure is enclosed within a beaded border, with a garbled pseudo-Latin legend reading O - CO - ZC surrounding the central type. The composition reflects a degraded imitation of late Roman reverse designs, with the iconographic details distorted through successive copying by non-Roman craftsmen. |
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| Additional information |
Germanic imitations of late Roman gold coinage occupy a murky corner of numismatics — attribution is often impossible, and the Arslan corpus itself leaves significant gaps. These pieces were struck by tribal groups operating along the Rhine and Danube frontiers during a period of intense Roman military pressure and subsidy payments, the latter flooding barbarian territories with imperial gold that craftsmen then copied with varying fidelity. The originals being imitated span several emperors of the tetrarchic and Constantinian periods, which is precisely why "uncertain ruler" is the honest answer here.