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Message:: [QUOTE="Valentinian, post: 3280170, member: 44316"]It's both. Of course, it is the usual SPQR abbreviation. However, it is, when on coins of Gallienus and Claudius II, only in exergue and associated with (by style, etc.) only one mint. So, it is not associated with a type issued empire-wide, rather a particular mint. But, which mint?  I suppose we can wonder why that mint used SPQR, but this is very early in the development of mint marks and before several-letter abbreviations of the mint's name (which begins with "SERD" under Aurelian). The first Roman imperial mintmark with any claim to clarity is that of Serdica (now Sophia, Bulgaria's capital and largest city). Among the very common coins of Aurelian, (270-275 AD) there are a few rare coins with mintmark SERD. [ATTACH=full]867078[/ATTACH]   Aurelian, Roman emperor 270-275 AD.  22-20 mm.  Minted at Serdica  Mintmark: SERD  IMP AVRELIANVS AVG  Reverse: IOVI CONSERVATORI  Emperor on the left in military dress holding a spear in his left  and receiving a globe from Jupiter,  naked and holding a long scepter.  RIC 265 (Serdica)[/QUOTE]