Victorinus (268-270AD) Debased Reduced Flan

Gallic Emperor Victorinus (268-270AD) was a soldier under the first Gallic Emperor Postumus, who possibly elevated him to the post of praetorian prefect after putting down a rebellion by Laelianus in 269AD. However, Postumus was murdered by his own troops organized by Marius, who became the new emperor. It was Victorinus who organized the overthrow of Marius, and subsequently, Victorinus was declared emperor by the troops. There was a rebellion in the city known today as Autun, in which he laid a siege that took 7 months. After his victory, he was assassinated by one of his own officers.

This hoard from the final year of his reign demonstrates the contagion of debasement from the Roman Empire and how in addition to the debasement from silver to bronze, the size of the flan also shrunk so that the full strike of the die was oversized to the planchet. These coins are generally Extremely Fine, showing little wear.  These are struck on reduced size planchets so the complete design does not appear. This hoard was most likely buried during the 270-273AD period since eventually Rome reunited the Gallic Empire in 273AD.