Solidus - Valentinian II VICTORIA AVGG, Mediolanum

Valentinian II was eleven years old when his half-brother Gratian elevated him to co-Augustus in 375, and the Milan mint that struck this solidus operated throughout what would prove a deeply unstable western court. The VICTORIA AVGG legend nominally proclaimed joint victory — yet during this precise emission window, the eastern Augustus Valens died at Adrianople in 378, arguably the worst military catastrophe Rome had suffered in centuries, leaving the "AVGG" formula diplomatically awkward and the victory it advertised entirely hollow.

Milan's role as a primary imperial mint had grown precisely because it sat closer to the Alpine frontiers than Rome did.