These coins of the « Gallic Empire » of the 260s were a shock for me when I was a child. I don’t know why my dad kept a handful of 20 bronze antoniniani in a drawer. He did not collect coins. One day, looking for something, I discovered them and asked him what it was. He told me they were Roman « small bronzes », and that I could have them if I liked. I was enthusiastic : actual authentic genuine ancient coins ! Roman coins ! I tried to decipher the legends, and found the names of Gallienus, Salonina, Claudius, Postumus, Victorinus, Tetricus… But who were they ? I had never heard about them, I only knew the names of Augustus, Tiberius, Nero, Trajan… In some book I found Gallienus, a late emperor of the decadent empire, but nothing about the other ones. I showed the coins at school to my teacher, who just told me : « These are portraits, you know… ». The guy was not a collector, and not an historian. It was not easy fot a child, back in the days before Wikipedia existed, to find who people like Postumus or Tetricus had been. Finally I could find it and for me it was a discovery : Postumus, Victorinus, Tetricus, had been emperors of a « Gallic Empire » in the 3rd century ! At some moment Roman Gaul had been an independent state, another smaller empire… At school, history lessons never mentioned this. In France we heared about the Gauls, the invasion by Julius Caesar, the heroic Vercingetorix, and after that Gaul becoming « Roman Gaul » with a lot of cities, roads, bridges… But it seemed that nothing worthy to be told had happened before the « Barbarian invasions » and the Franks changing the name of the country for « France ». For a kid like me, these coins I had in my hand were evidence of an untold history of my own country. 5 centuries, half a millenium of dark ages… Of course, I later learned that these « Gallic emperors » were common knowledge for historians and scholars, but ignored by textbooks and mainsteam literature, the kind a kid can find. These coins have been the best and probably most interesting history lesson I ever learned : real history lies in documents, not textbooks who select a limited range of topics.
That's a really cool story. I got into ancient coins on a whim, but they have also ended up having a pretty profound impact on my interests. I wasn't into history at all beforehand, but looking into the emperors on the coins made me realize that learning about the past was extremely interesting for me. I've actually become a bit of a history buff over the last decade or so Here are my Gallic emperors/usurpers: Postumus Laelianus Marius Victorinus Tetricus I Tetricus II
Lovely collections of usurpers shown above. I have only been collecting ancients a little over two years. Like you @GinoLR the information available today dwarfs the content of school curriculums. It is such a joy to research each and every Emperor, Empress, God or deity. The reasons behind the minting of certain reverses, being either true events or mythological. Here is a usurper Postumus AR Antoninianus. Trier. 264-265 CE IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right / MONETA AVG, Moneta standing left with scales in right hand and holding cornucopiae and raising hem of skirt with left. RIC 75. RSC 199, Sear 10962. (Note the curly hair above the brow on the obverse. This is one of the main characteristics which distinguishes this coin from RIC 315 from Cologne, on which the hair is in more or less straight lines.)
Great story OP. That is the reason I collect coins. Not for the bits of metal they are, but they spark interest and compel a person to find out more about a person, country, city, etc more than they otherwise normally would. That is the appeal, the pull of history and connecting you to it.
I have a few Usurpers that I can offer: MAGNENTIUS RI Magnentius 351-352 CE AE 1 CHI RHO MAGNUS MAXIMUS RI Magnus Maximus 383-388 CE AE Follis VETRANIO RI Vetranio 350 CE AE3 17mm Siscia mint Emp stdng hldg Standard and Spear DECENTIUS RI Decentius 350-353 CE AE19 VOT V VABALATHUS RI Vabalathus 271-272 CE and Aurelian POSTUMUS RI Postumus 259-268 CE Antoninianus Cologne Oriens ex tif AUREOLUS? RI Postumus struck by Aureolus 268 CE Revolt of Milan Concordia LAELIANUS RI Laelianus CE 269 AE Ant 19mm 3.4g Moguntiacum mint Radiate cuirassed Victory RIC Vb 9 p373 black CLODIUS ALBINUS RI Clodius Albinus 193-197 CE AR Denarius ROMAE AETERNAE Roma seated
Some more Usurpers: MACRIANUS RI Macrianus 260-261 CE Usurper AR 22mm 4.4g BI Ant Spes Publica star Sear 3.10811. RIC 13 pg 581 R2 Rare QUIETUS RI Quietus usurper 260-261 CE Ant 3-74g Samasota mint Indulgentia patera scepter RIC V 5 GALLIC EMPIRE - POSTUMUS RI Postumus 259-268 CE Antoninianus Cologne Oriens Ex: @TIF - MARIUS RI Marius 269 Gallic Usurper BI Ant CONCORD MILIT Clasped Hands - VICTORINUS RI Victorinus 269-270 CE BI Ant Gallic Empire Salus - TETRICUS I RI Tetricus I 271-274 CE Ant LAETITIA - TETRICUS II RI Tetricus II 273-274 CE BI Ant SPES w Flower ALLECTUS RI Allectus 293-296 CE AE Ant PAX CARAUSIUS RI Carausius usurper in Britain CE 287–293 BI Ant 4.7g 24mm London radiate cuirassed - PAX AVG Pax stndg l branch scepter S—P RIC V 475
