Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Tremissis Short head
| Issuer | Uncertain Germanic tribes |
|---|---|
| Year | 475-690 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Solidus (circa 301-750) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Bust of a late Roman emperor facing right, depicted in a debased barbaric style derived from late Roman imperial prototypes. The effigy displays a diademed and draped bust with a broad, rounded facial rendering characteristic of Germanic imitative coinage. A pseudo-legend in degenerate Latin characters encircles the bust, rendered as garbled imitation of Roman imperial titulature. The overall style reflects the hand of a Germanic die-cutter working from Roman tremissis models of the 5th–7th centuries. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | WVSARCIAO - IIVS PC AVN |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Tremisses struck by Germanic successor authorities in the post-Roman west are among the most difficult coins to attribute with confidence — many were produced by tribes imitating late Roman and Byzantine gold without consistent mint signatures or issuing legends. The "short head" designation is a modern typological grouping, not a contemporary one, reflecting attempts by scholars to organize a chaotic output that spans Visigoths, Burgundians, Franks, and lesser-identified groups across two centuries of political fragmentation.
The MEC I 373 comparison suggests a Frankish or related Merovingian connection, but the Arslan gap keeps firm attribution out of reach.