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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Tejas, post: 7800800, member: 84905&quot;]Very attractive and interesting coin. I also have one of these Leo I Tremissis imitations. I shall post a picture next week. It is in the bank vault and hasn&#039;t been out for a long time.</p><p><br /></p><p>Mine has the legend:&nbsp; DN LEOPE&nbsp; RPETAVC&nbsp; //&nbsp; VIVCOCIAY AUV&nbsp; -- CONOBH</p><p><br /></p><p>Mine is die-identical to Italo Vecchi sale 13, September 1998, Lot 1195</p><p><br /></p><p>Italo Vecchi lists the coin under the Ostrogoths, claiming that it was of &quot;typical early Gothic style&quot; and attributes it to Theodemir and Vidimir, who were Theoderic the Great&#039;s father and uncle, respectively. Italo Vecchi speaks of an &quot;uncertain Italian mint&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>A lot is wrong with Italo Vecchi&#039;s attribution. First, the Ostrogoths arrived in Italy 489, i.e. more than 15 years after the death of Theodimir and Vidimir. Hence, no Ostrogothic coins were minted in Italy before 489.</p><p>Second, the &quot;typical early Gothic style&quot; is fantasy. If anything, the coin does not look like an Italian mint product. Third, Theodimir and Vidimir were warlords who obtained coins through plunder or in payment for military services or as tribute, but they probably never minted coins themselves. At least there is no evidence for that.</p><p><br /></p><p>Hence, Metlich &quot;The coinage of Ostrogothic Italy&quot; does not include any coins of Leo (457-474) in the Ostrogothic series. The same is true for Grierson and Blackburn &quot;Medieval European Coinage&quot; Vol. I.</p><p><br /></p><p>The only Germanic kingdoms that produced their own or imitative coins at the time, were 1) the Vandals under Gaiseric and Huneric, 2) the Burgundians under Gundobad 3) the Visigoths under Euric and 4), to a lesser extent, the Franks under the Merovingian Chlodevig.</p><p><br /></p><p>I think the Leo I imitations don&#039;t fit to any of these kingdoms. In fact, I think they are more likely the product of an eastern mint. They seem to form a stylistically similar group. I think they were issued only for a short time, perhaps some kind of emergence military issue, but that is speculation too.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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