Sometimes the seemingly most mundane coins can give you a door into the history of the time. Indeed, when professor Grierson was asked about rarities in his vast collection of mediaeval European coins in the interview serialised in Spink Numismatic Circular in 1992 he commented that, whilst he owned some great rarities, it was the everyday coin that the person in the street was using that interested him most.
Take this small parcel of coins of the emperor Arcadius, all VICTORIA AVGGG pieces from the mint city of Trier in Germany and marked TR in the exergue.
The copper coinage at Trier was on a relatively small scale and was often completely absent after 355. The mint of Trier ceased production in 395 after an ephemeral copper issue in the name of Honorius and Arcadius with the reverse legend of VICTORIA AVGG, following the death of Valentinian I.
408-13 gold and silver issues in the names of Constantine III and Jovinus were struck. The last issues from the Trier mint were silver and copper in the name of Theodosius II and Valentinian III (425-50), closing for the last time around 430.
These VICTORIA AVGGG pieces, terminating in 394, are the last substantial copper issue from the mint.
Given the sporadic coin issues it is worth exploring the history of the area at that time and we learn that it is rather troubled.
Sometime after the death of Valentinian, the office of praefectus praetorio Galliarum was removed from Trier to Arles. It would be tempting to link this to the cessation of base metal coin at Trier in 395, but this is not necessarily the case.
In 401 Stilicho recalled troops from the Rhine, having already been partially depleted by Eugenius for his move against Valentinian, and this loss of military presence may mean the relocation of the praefectus. It could even be some five years or so later.
In 406/7 there was an invasion of Vandals, Alani and Suebi. They crossed the frozen Rhine at Mainz 31 Dec 406, the people of Trier making a “last stand” in the amphitheatre, if the chronicler Fredegar is correct, in 407.
Grierson, P, and Mays, M; Catalogue of late Roman coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection (1992)
Pearce, J. W. E; Roman Imperial Coinage IX (1932)
Wightman, E. M; Roman Trier and the Treveri (1970)
Wightman, E. M; Gallia Belgica (1985)
