Potin with leaping lion TOC / TOC

The Sequani occupied the territory of modern Franche-Comté and were among the Gallic tribes most directly swept into crisis by Caesar's campaigns beginning in 58 BC — the precise opening of this coin's possible issue window. That year, the Sequani had invited the Suebian king Ariovistus into Gaul as a military ally against the Aedui, a decision that backfired catastrophically when Ariovistus refused to leave and began seizing Sequani lands. Caesar used this instability as his justification for military intervention.

Potin — a lead-tin-copper alloy — was the low-denomination workhorse of late Gaulish monetary production, cast rather than struck. The casting process leaves characteristic surface porosity that distinguishes genuine specimens from later copies.