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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Orielensis, post: 3936157, member: 96898&quot;]I read different hypotheses about these letters, which are neatly summarized by Jerome Mairat: <i>The Coinage of the Gallic Empire</i> (2014). I quote the relevant section:</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;[Gricourt and Hollard 2010] interpret the letter P in the field of the [Postumus] reverses PAX AVG and ORIENS [...] as having a double meaning: the letter <i>P</i> would stand both for <i>Postumus</i> and for <i>legio XXII Primigenia.</i> From this interpretation, they build a reconstruction where the coins with the letter P have not been issued at the main mint, but by a traveling mint following the <i>legio XXII</i> during a military campaign<i>. </i>[...]</p><p><br /></p><p>On the same basis, they also interpret the letter V on the reverse of some Victorinus’s radiates [...] as have having a double meaning as well: on these coins, <i>V</i> would stand for <i>Victorinus</i> and <i>XXXa Ulpia victrix</i> at the same time. They conclude that these coins of Victorinus usually attributed to the main mint were in fact struck by a travelling mint also following another important legion of the Gallic Empire, the <i>legio XXX</i>. [...]</p><p><br /></p><p>However, the present writer feels that a single letter on the reverse of some radiates, having a double meaning, first under the reign of Postumus, and then again under the reign of Victorinus, is rather difficult to accept. Indeed, the probability that the first letter of the emperor’s name is also the initial letter of the legion for which coins were struck is certainly quite small. And it is even less likely to have happened twice. One could also note that there are no other parallels for adding a legion’s name to the coinage as a&nbsp; single letter. At best, the letter <i>P</i> on Postumus’s coins stands for <i>Postumus</i>, and the letter <i>V</i> on Victorinus’s coins just stands for <i>Victorinus</i>.&quot; (Mairat 2014, pp. 66–68)</p><p><br /></p><p>Here are two Victorinus coins, yet without the letter:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1037568[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">Victorinus, Gallic Roman Empire, AE antoninian, 271 AD, Trier mint. Obv: IMP C VICTORINVS PF AVG; radiate, draped, cuirassed bust of Victorinus r.&nbsp; Rev: [VIRT]VS AVG; Virtus, helmetes, standing r., holding spear and leaning on shield. 17mm, 1.98g. Ref: Mairat 635; RIC V,2 Victorinus 78.</font></p><p><font size="3"><br /></font></p><p><font size="3">[ATTACH=full]1037567[/ATTACH] </font></p><p><font size="3">Victorinus, Gallic Roman Empire, BI antoninian, 269–270 AD, Cologne mint. Obv: IMP C VICTORINVS PF AVG; radiate, draped, cuirassed bust of Victorinus r.&nbsp; Rev: SALVS AVG; Salus standing r., holding serpent and patera. 22mm, 2.80g. Ref: Mairat 643/644; RIC V,2 Victorinus 122.</font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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