This is an interesting coin Flav. The mistake often made is to compare the coinage of
the Gallic Empire with the one of the
Roman Empire. The easy equation is official coins VS
barbaric coins (=imitation). It is not that simple. We know very little about how it was working between 260-274 AD there. For now, we believe there were 2 official mints (except
Milan) during these times. The location of these workshops have changed many times in the last century, even
Mairat admitted: « future evidence may change the picture ». There are evidence of « local mints », maybe tolerated by the authorities or even « sponsored » by them. It’s obvious that the « imitations » were freely circulating during the era of the Gallic rulers. About what we consider « official », we often based our judgment on the
style. But what if engravers working in « official « mints were also working on the
side for unofficial ones ? How could we see the difference if the same
hands produced both coinage ? An about « official » dies, what happened to them when there was a change of rulers ? Were they reused or even stolen to struck « unofficial » coins ? It has been proven that « official » dies of
Victorinus coin (
FORT REDVX
reverse) were reused with very crude
obverse dies of
Tetricus. But where ? In « official » mints or « local » ones ? So many questions but so few answers…
DT