Solidus - Gratianus VICTORIA AVGG, Treveri

Gratian was elevated to co-emperor by his father Valentinian I in 367, aged around eight, making this solidus one of the earliest issues struck in his name. The Treveri mint — modern Trier — was at this period the principal western imperial mint and the effective administrative capital of the western provinces, Valentinian having favored it as a command base for his Rhine frontier campaigns against the Alamanni.

RIC IX 17g places this piece within a tightly sequenced emission tied to those Rhenish military operations. Trier's solidi from this decade are notable for generally crisp execution, a product of the mint's proximity to the court and its access to freshly refined Rhenish gold supplies.