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Nummus - Thrasamund Carthage mint
| Issuer | Vandal Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 496-523 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Crude diademed bust of King Thrasamund facing right, rendered in a highly schematic late antique style characteristic of Vandal coinage. The portrait is of rough, irregular execution typical of hammered small bronze issues of this period, with facial features barely discernible due to the size of the flan and the limitations of the die-cutting. A partial Latin legend surrounds the bust, reading D N RC SAMVNDS, an abbreviated form of Dominus Noster Thrasamundus (Our Lord Thrasamund). The field shows significant surface roughness consistent with the irregularity of the flan. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | D N RC SAMVNDS (Translation: Our Lord, Thrasamund.) |
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| Additional information |
Thrasamund ruled the Vandal Kingdom for nearly three decades, navigating a careful diplomatic balance between Ostrogothic Italy — he married Theodoric's sister Amalafrida in 500 — and a Byzantine empire growing increasingly hostile to Arian Germanic rulers. These tiny nummi were the lowest denomination in a bronze coinage system the Vandals inherited and adapted from late Roman provincial practice at Carthage, a mint the kingdom had controlled since Gaiseric's capture of the city in 439.
The fabric is characteristically irregular; flans this small were prone to uneven casting, and few survive without some degree of surface porosity.