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Message:: [QUOTE="Tejas, post: 7840235, member: 84905"]Here is another recent case of an attribution to "Uncertain Germanic tribes" in Northern Italy:[ATTACH=full]1348543[/ATTACH] I think the dating of the coin to the early to mid 5th century is basically correct. However, I think the cataloger should explain which "Germanic tribes" in Northern Italy he is "uncertain" about. In fact only two groups are possible, the multi-ethnic invasion led by the probably Gothic chieftain Radagais in 406 or the Goths led by Alaric in 410. However, neither of these groups engaged in any minting activity and we can safely rule them out as producers of the above coin. Despite the barbaric reverse, I think the coin was almost certainly produced by Romans, i.e. by Roman citizens, possibly in Gaul or Britain, i.e. two regions over which the empire was losing partial or complete control at the time. I think an increasing shortage of official silver coins let to the clipping of official coins and the recoining of the silver into underweight imitations. In any case, the ominous "uncertain Germanic tribesmen" once again worked wonders. The selling price was more than 10 times the asking price.[/QUOTE]