UNCERTAIN GERMANIC TRIBES, Pseudo-Imperial coinage. Late 3rd-early 4th centuries. 'Aureus' (Gold, 20 mm, 6.17 g), 'Ulów Group', O3/R4. Imitating Claudius II, 268-270, or Aurelian, 270-275. OИO∞И NOИBNTOIΓT Laureate, draped and cuirassed imperial bust to left.
Rev. T[...]TOIIIIIIIITUOIII Complex circular floral pattern consisting of an inner and an outer rosette with a pellet-in-annulet in the center. An intriguing type of great geometrical beauty. Original suspension loop broken off and with some scrapes on the obverse
, otherwise, about very fine.
From the Aurum Barbarorum Collection.
While this is not the finest coin in the Aurum Barbarborum Collection, it is certainly one of the most intriguing, boasting a beautiful and complex floral pattern of uncertain meaning on the reverse. Could this represent the design of a particularly ostentatious Germanic shield, perhaps that of an important warlord or kinglet? However tempting such an idea is, it seems more likely to this cataloguer that the design derives from a very distant and unusual Roman prototype, and that is the denarius of Augustus and L. Aquilius Florus from 19 BC (RIC 309) with a flower on the reverse. Why such a rare denarius would wind up in the hands of a Germanic artist in the late 3rd century is unclear, but if it did, one can easily imagine how impressed he must have been by its beautiful design.