Possible Nordic Issue

Sale: Triton X, Lot: 886. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Monday, 8 January 2007.  Sold For $2600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

UNCERTAIN GERMANIC TRIBES. Gaul. Mid-late 5th century. AV Solidus (4.37 g, 6h). Imitating Rome mint. Struck in the name of Valentinian III, circa AD 423-455. D N PLA VALENTI-NIANVS P F AVG, rosette-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right / VICTORI-A AVGGG, emperor standing facing, holding long cross in right hand, Victory on globe in left, stepping on head of human-headed, coiled serpent; R-M across field; Z//COMOB. G. Depeyrot, “Les solidi gaulois de Valentinian III,” SNR 65 (1986), group b, 1; BMC Vandals 3 (Vandals under Gaiseric). EF, a few light marks. Rare.

From the Marc Poncin Collection.

Depeyrot identified 17 coins that formed a homogenous group imitating an issue of Valentinian III from the 7th officina of the Rome mint. These coins have been attributed by various authors to the Vandals, Visigoths, and Burgundians, but Depeyrot’s analysis of finds has concluded that they are of a Gallic, or possibly Nordic, origin.