Aureus - Tetricus I Bust left, VIRTVS

Tetricus I ruled an increasingly precarious Gallic Empire from 271 until its absorption by Aurelian in 274, and gold issues from his reign are rare precisely because the regime's financial base was collapsing. The antoninianus had been so thoroughly debased by his predecessors that trust in Gallic coinage was largely gone — gold was hoarded immediately.

The bust-left orientation on an aureus is the less common variant for this type, which accounts for the separate Schulte listings at 34a and 35a covering die combinations. Few examples surface at auction.