2022-05-21 Sat

The Rarest Coin of the Romano-Gallic Empire is a double-denarius issued sometime between 269 and 271 by Domitianus. The first coin was discovered in France in 1900, and the second, now in the Ashmolean Museum, was found in the village of Chalgrove in Oxfordshire, in 2003.

Domitianus II was a Roman soldier of the mid-third century AD who was acclaimed Emperor, probably in northern Gaul, in late 270 or early 271 AD and struck coins to advertise his elevation. Domitianus' reign lasted only a few weeks, and with no literary references to his being emperor, the only evidence for his existence and rule derives from two coins.

The design of both coins is typical of those associated with the 'Gallic Empire'. They are of the "radiate" type and depict Domitianus as a bearded figure wearing a spiky or radiate crown representing the rays of the sun, and bearing the legend, IMP C DOMITIANUS P F AUG, an abbreviation for 'Imperator Caesar Domitianus Pius Flavius Augustus'.

Image Courtesy: coinworld.com