Carausius, Romano-British Emperor, 286-293. Antoninianus (Bronze, 22 mm, 4.54 g, 7 h), uncertain mint (Londinium?), circa 287. IMP CARAVSIVS P F AVG Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Carausius to right. Rev. PA[X] AVG / BRI Pax standing front, head to left, holding olive branch in her right hand and long scepter in her left. Cohen -. RIC 1087. RIC V.5 625. Webb -. Very rare. Somewhat rough and with areas of weakness and light deposits, otherwise, about very fine.


The abbreviation BRI in the exergue of this very small issue has been the subject of scholarly debate since the early 20th century. When the first specimen was discovered in 1925 in the Roman town of Viriconium (modern Wroxeter), G. Hill proposed that BRI might refer to a variant of the place name Briconium, suggesting the coins were struck locally. However, both stylistic evidence and the pattern of coin finds argue against the existence of a mint in Wroxeter. Today, the more straightforward interpretation - BRI(tannia) - is widely accepted.

Unusually, then, these coins name not a specific mint, but the province in which they were produced. This reflects the particular significance of Britannia to the usurper Carausius, who relied mainly on the military and naval strength of this northwestern province of the Roman Empire. Even so, the abbreviation never gained traction - likely because it was too vague to function effectively for administrative or quality-control purposes. Most of Carausius’s other coins follow standard Roman practice, naming specific mints and officinae.

In total, Moorhead, in the recently published RIC V.5, records only 24 specimens bearing the BRI abbreviation, distributed across three reverse types: PAX AVG, SALVS AVG, and COMES AVG. These coins are thus not only rare within the broader coinage of Carausius, but also stand out as uniquely evocative artifacts of Roman Britain's political and military history.