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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;+VGO.DVCKS, post: 4627462, member: 110504&quot;]This a Terrific question.&nbsp; Imitation of Roman motifs goes back to the &#039;barbarous&#039; examples, most (that&#039;s Most) of whose prototypes are issues of the 3rd-4th centuries.&nbsp; (Yep, some are earlier.)&nbsp; Their origin ranges from unofficial coinages within the borders of the empire, to Real Live imitations by Real &#039;Barbarians,&#039; mostly east of the Rhine.</p><p>And they continue, seamlessly, into the 5th and 6th centuries, notably by various polities in the immediately post-Roman world.</p><p>It needs emphasis that for the people issuing these coins, the Roman ethos was still very resonant.&nbsp; Many of the tribes (Franks, Visigoths, et al.) had been active as mercenaries on the Roman frontier well before they began appropriating parts of the empire in a political capacity.&nbsp; &#039;Assimilation&#039; would be too simplistic, but the Roman influence was powerful.</p><p>As it remained throughout the Medieval period.&nbsp; Earlier on, this is demonstrated in the coins, to the extent that you note.&nbsp; At least from his coronation as Emperor in 800, Charlemagne is issuing deniers with his laureate profile.&nbsp; And in Anglo-Saxon England, you see the same thing from the 9th century.&nbsp; Even some of the earlier Anglo-Saxon and Frisian sceattas imitate late Roman prototypes --although in that case, it takes knowing what you&#039;re looking at.</p><p>Moral being, I guess, that in history, no transition is &#039;clean.&#039;&nbsp; The transitions, with the attendant nuance, are that much more fun than if this stuff was really as easy as the &#039;party line&#039; that all of us begin life with.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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