Late Roman bronze: Valentinian to Honorius (364–410)

The Valentinianic and Theodosian periods (364–408) close out Roman coinage in Britain. The portraits are generic, the modules keep shrinking, and the reverses settle into a handful of stock types. After 410 the official coin supply stops — though the latest coins continued in circulation for decades. Here’s what the final phase looks like.

The four phases of late Roman bronze

Reece’s framework divides the post-Constantinian fifty years into clear periods. Each has a distinctive reverse profile:

Reece Period 19 (364–378)

Valentinian I and his brother Valens jointly ruled the Empire from 364, with Gratian (Valentinian I’s son) added as junior augustus in 367. Their AE3 bronzes are common UK detector finds and fall into two principal reverse types:

• GLORIA ROMANORVM— the emperor advances right, dragging a kneeling captive by the hair. Late variants replace the captive with a labarum (military standard).
• SECVRITAS REIPVBLICAE— Victory walks left holding a wreath in her outstretched hand and a palm branch over her shoulder. Module 17–18 mm typically.

Procopius (a usurper against Valens in 365–366) and Magnus Maximus (a usurper from Britain, 383–388) both struck small AE issues in their own names. Magnus Maximus coins in particular are recognised UK detector finds, often at the same sites as Valentinianic regular issues.

Reece Period 20 (378–388)

Theodosius I came to power in 379 after the catastrophic defeat at Adrianople. The coinage settles into the REPARATIO REIPVB type (“the restoration of the state”) showing the emperor raising a kneeling female figure of Britannia or another province — a propaganda message about imperial recovery.

Reece Period 21 (388–402)

The final phase of official Roman bronze for Britain. Theodosius I and his sons Honorius and Arcadius struck enormous quantities of small AE4 (~13 mm) bronzes:

• VICTORIA AVGGG— two Victories holding a wreath between them. The triple “G” refers to three co-emperors: Theodosius, Arcadius, Honorius.
• SALVS REIPVBLICAE— Victory dragging a captive, similar in composition to the earlier GLORIA ROMANORVM but tighter framing.

Both types are AE4 fabric, ~12–14 mm, often very worn by the time they reach a detectorist’s palm. The mintmarks shift eastward in this period — supply from Trier diminishes and Lyon and Arles become more prominent, with eastern mints (Aquileia, Constantinople, Cyzicus) occasionally turning up.

The 402 withdrawal and the clipped siliqua

After 402, no fresh bronze supply reaches Britain. The fourth-century AE4 coins keep circulating for decades. The only new precious-metal coinage is the silver siliqua (a tiny 17–18 mm silver coin), large numbers of which were clipped down to the inner design circle before being hoarded — producing the characteristic “clipped siliqua” that defines Reece Period 22 (402–c.410).

• Clipped siliqua: small silver disc, 12–16 mm, 0.6–1.2 g (originally ~17–18 mm at 1.7–2.2 g). The rim is removed to expose just the inner pellet circle and design.
• Common emperors: Arcadius, Honorius, Constantine III (usurper, 407–411).
• Clipping likely happened in late-4th and very-early-5th c. Britain to maximise silver yield from a dwindling supply.

The withdrawal — AD 410 and after

Roman administration in Britain ended around 410. Some accounts give the explicit instruction to British cities to “look to their own defence”; others point to a more gradual fade. From the coinage perspective, what changes is that no new official Roman coins arrive after about 402–410. The existing pool of late AE4 small bronzes and clipped siliquae continues in circulation for at least a generation, sometimes longer, before the early Anglo-Saxon period takes over.

Procedural identification

1. Confirm late Roman bronze.12–18 mm, ~1–3 g, green or brown patina, diademed bust on the obverse.
2. Read the reverse type. GLORIA ROMANORVM, SECVRITAS REIPVBLICAE, REPARATIO REIPVB, VICTORIA AVGGG, SALVS REIPVBLICAE — each maps to a Reece period.
3. Count Gs in legend. AVG = one emperor (early). AVGG = two co-emperors. AVGGG = three co-emperors (typically Theodosius I, Arcadius, Honorius — RP 21).
4. Read the obverse legend for emperor. Even one or two letters of VALENS, VALENT..., GRATIANVS, THEODOSI..., HONORI..., ARCAD... usually pin it.
5. Read the mintmark in the exergue.