Antoninianus-Tetricus II AEQVITAS; barbarous radiate

Tetricus II was elevated to Caesar by his father Tetricus I around 273 AD, and their joint rule collapsed almost immediately when the elder Tetricus reportedly invited Aurelian to invade — effectively surrendering the Gallic Empire to avoid a worse fate. The barbarous radiates that imitate their coinage are products of that vacuum: unofficial struck copies produced in enormous numbers across Gaul and Britain after central authority dissolved, filling a currency shortage that Aurelian's reunified empire was slow to remedy.

This piece imitating the AEQVITAS type sits at the murkier end of the barbarous radiate spectrum — the type was copied so prolifically that attribution to a specific originating workshop is rarely possible.