Aureus - Vespasian GENIVS P R, Genius

Struck in the chaotic opening months of Vespasian's reign, this aureus belongs to a group produced while the civil wars of 69 AD — the Year of the Four Emperors — were barely resolved. Vespasian was still in the East when his forces took Rome; these early gold issues were almost certainly struck at a Flavian military mint, possibly in Gaul or the Rhineland, before the imperial coinage apparatus was fully consolidated at Rome.

RIC II.1 1355 is attributed to this transitional 69–70 window specifically on the basis of style and die characteristics consistent with non-Roman production.