Postumus Antoninianus

Silver Antoninianus of Postumus (260-268AD). When his adversary Gallienus, Emperor of Rome, was assassinated in 268AD, he, too, fell to a coup and was also assassinated.

We have obtained a hoard of the earliest coinage of the first French Emperor of the break-away Empire of 260AD – Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus  (260-268AD) of the Gallic Empire. This hoard is exceptional insofar as (1) we are looking at the earliest coinage where they are still silver, and (2) the quality is rather an exception for this period of nearly Extremely Fine+, implying this hoard was put away when the fighting probably first began.

Interestingly, the later issues of Postumus are debased and will appear to be merely bronze. As Rome debased its coinage between 260 and 268, the Gallic Empire was also forced to do the same because their coinage was being hoarded in this early state. These later debased issues will generally sell for between $50 in low grade and $75-$100 in high grade. The earlier silver issue has often sold for as high as $250 in XF condition, but they are hard to come by.