Follis - Constantius Gallus GLORIA EXERCITVS, Barbarous imitation

Barbarous imitations of the GLORIA EXERCITVS type proliferated across the northwestern provinces during the 350s as legitimate coin supply collapsed under the pressure of Magnentius's usurpation and the civil war that followed. Local workshops — if they can be called that — struck debased copies to fill the gap, often reducing fabric progressively with each generation of copying until the prototypes became nearly unrecognizable. At 1.4g, this piece sits well below the official weight standard, suggesting it belongs to a late stage in that degradation chain.