Silbannacus
HistoryComments
Could the lack of records be an intentional erasure rather than a random lottery? If his reign was viewed as an illegitimacy, the state might have actively hunted down and melted every single coin.
It is a small victory for history that these two pieces survived. They provide a concrete identity to someone who would otherwise be completely nameless.
If they were being erased... did the mint workers have to destroy the molds too... or did some just hide them...?
If any molds survived, they would be in a museum by now. I wonder which specific institutions are currently holding the two known coins.
Whether it was a lottery or a purge, the result is the same. It is like the ghost stations in the London Underground; we only know the old city because a few concrete walls did not get demolished.
This reflects the volatility of the Gallic Empire. The survival of these specimens suggests they likely circulated in a peripheral region where the central authority's effort to purge the record was incomplete.