Visigoths, Uncertain King AV Solidus. In the name of Zeno. Arelate(?), AD 480-491. D N I ZENO PERP AVG, pearl-diademed, helmeted and cuirassed bust facing, holding spear and shield decorated with horseman and fallen enemy motif / VICTORIA AVGGG Z, Victory standing facing, head to left, holding long jewelled cross; star in right field, CONOB in exergue. DOC 690 (Arles?) = Lacam pl. 44, 136 (Visigoths, same dies); Roma XXIII, 1157 (same dies). 4.41g, 21mm, 7h.

Good Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare; the second recorded example.

This coin published in I. Vecchi, R. Beale and S. Parkin, The Mare Nostrum Hoard (forthcoming);
From the Mare Nostrum Hoard (1954).

This example is struck from the same dies as the DOC specimen which is tentatively attributed to Arelate (Arles) by Grierson and Mays on the basis of style. As Arles was annexed by the Visigothic kingdom after Zeno's accession it has been argued that coins were likely to have been struck there in his name (DOC, p. 189) although this was disputed by Kent in RIC X.