Catalog
Solidus Braga
| Issuer | Suebi Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 448-456 |
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| Currency | Tremissis |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | Standing figure of the emperor facing right, holding a labarum in his right hand and a Victory on globe in his left, with his left foot resting upon a prostrate barbarian captive. The mint mark letters B and R appear in the left and right fields respectively, identifying the mint of Bracara (modern Braga). The exergue bears the inscription COMOB, the standard late Roman guarantee of pure Constantinople gold. The reverse follows the VICTORIA AVGGG solidus reverse type of the Theodosian period, here adapted by the Suebi workshop. |
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| Additional information |
The Suebi solidus struck at Braga — ancient Bracara Augusta, the kingdom's capital — belongs to a period when the Suebi were nominally federated with Rome while simultaneously dismantling Roman administrative structures across northwestern Iberia. These coins imitated imperial tremisses and solidi not out of deference but out of economic necessity: Roman monetary forms were the only currency merchants and landowners would accept.
The Bracara mint under Rechiar, the first Germanic king to convert to Catholicism before 448, produced issues whose gold fineness held remarkably close to imperial standards — a deliberate policy to maintain trade credibility with both Roman Hispania and the Atlantic coast networks.