Antoninianus - Postumus P M TR P COS II P P

Postumus seized power in 260 AD by having the legitimate Caesar Saloninus executed at Cologne, then spent the first years of his reign consolidating a breakaway western empire spanning Gaul, Britain, and Spain. This coin dates to his first two consulships — the COS II in the legend fixes it precisely to 261 — before he went on to hold the fasces five times, an extraordinary self-appointment that advertised dynastic ambition without any sanction from Rome. Aurelian never recovered these territories during Postumus's lifetime; the Gallic Empire outlasted its founder by six years.