I bought this siliqua in yesterday's Gorny & Mosch auction: Obv.: DN HONORI-VS PF AVG Rev.: VIPTV..HO-MA-NORVIIV In exergue: MPPS According to the catalog, the coin is an official siliqua in the name of Honorius of the mint of Mediolanum, dating to AD 402. I doubt that this interpretation is correct, though. Below is an official coin for comparison (not my coin): I think it is clear, that the Gorny&Mosch coin is not an official issue from Milan. The style and the blundered reverse legend show that this is an imitative coin. Who made the coin, if not the Romans? This question is not too difficult to answer based on history and style. If it is a barbarian issue, the coin may have been produced by Visigoths in Gaul, Vandals in Africa or by Suevians on the Hispanic peninsula. I think the style of the lettering in particular suggests that the coin was minted by the Suevians. Below is a black/white picture of a Suevian solidus with similar lettering. The other fact that points to the Suevians is the mintmark.The Suevians always copied coins from Milan, in contrast to the Visigoths and Vandals, who usually copied coins from Rome and Ravenna. Numismatically, a Suevian Siliqua is a big deal. In around AD 456 a small issue of Suevian siliquae in the name of King Rechiar were produced (the first coin in the name of a barbarian king). Only three exemplars of this coin survived. The assumption is that this issue was completely isolated, and that otherwise only gold coins were issued by the Suevic kingdom. If my coin above is a Suevian siliqua, it would show that the Rechiar issue was not isolated, but part of a silver coinage that may have began under his predecessors Hermeric or Rechilar.
The coin below has been discussed as a possible Suevic silver coin (half-siliqua) in "Aponamentos para estudo da Moeda Sueva (numisma as), by Antonio Carlos Diogo" The coin weighs 0.69g and it was reportedly found between Merida and Seville. The coin was offered by Numisma Leiloes in its last auction of 2008 in Lisbon. The coin was described as unique Suevic Semi-Siliqua and offered at EUR 15'000,-. The coin was acquired by the Museu de Lisboa https://www.yumpu.com/pt/document/read/42139447/apontamentos-suevosindd-numismatas
Nice pickup @Tejas … I immediately suspected that the coin was imitative rather than official because of its style, but I was surprised to see that it was not described as such. In any case, it is a very interesting and eye-appealing coin….especially compared to other imitative siliqua. I also bought a Siliqua from that auction, but it is an official issue from Lugdunum.
Peixoto Cabral and Metcalf wrote in their book "Suevic Coinage", Porto 1997, that only about 150 to 200 Suevic coins are known to date. Referring only to the gold coins of course, they reckon that 60% of the dies are not known, meaning that there should be a lot of "surprises" out there. They mention of course the three siliquae in the name of King Rechiar, but don't discuss the possibility of an imitative silver coinage. I think it is likely that such an imitative silver coinage existed and that the coins above were part of it. The last coin posted by Severus Alexander shows ticks all the boxes: the lettering, the Milan mintmark and the bust is quite similar to that of some gold coins.
