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Carausius was the very successful commander of the Classis Britannica, and in 286 AD he was charged with ridding the English channel of Frankish and Saxon pirates. His novel method of allowing the attacks to take place, destroying the pirates, and then keeping all the treasure for himself drew the attention of the emperor and he was sentenced to death. Being somewhat disagreeable to this, he declared himself emperor of Britain and Northern Gaul, where he ruled from 286 to 293 AD. He issued a large number of coins from a mint in London and possibly a mint in Colchester, so almost all his coins are technically associated with Britain. However, this article is only about those that feature Britain on them, which reduces the number a bit.
Carausius minted five types of coins that are of interest to us, and I’m fairly sure one of those doesn’t exist:
- Legionary coins
- Coins featuring Britannia
- Adventus coins celebrating his arrival in London, which was his capital
- His 'Genio Britanni' (Spirit of Britain) coin
- His 'Restitutor Britanniae' (Restorer of Britain) coin, which seems to be a myth
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