Pendant

A looped pendant which incorporates a West German gold tremissis, imitating a 4th Century AD bronze Roman Coin. The vertical loop is a 19th century replacement and is slightly worn with raised surfaces and edge. Pseudo Imperial Merovingian coins are 6th century AD coins modelled out of earlier Roman coins, of the 4th century AD. The typical imagery is of a bust with a Victory and a cross on the reverse and the ones with a different image on the reverse such as M7020 are rare.
On the obverse of the M7020 tremiss there is a bust turned to the left with a pseudo-legend CIIISCI-IIINVC. The bust' s hair is of a Mohican rather than pelleted hair and according to Arent Pol (2005, Twenty Two soldiers, a Goddess and an Emperor) the inspiration for this hairstyle may have come from a another late Roman coin of Licinius II where the Emperor wore a helmet with a plume in the middle, running from the forehead to the neck.
On the reverse there are the two standing figures, a soldier with a standard in between them (N), separated by small crosses, pseudo legend CIT..GIVINITIIV. A new element is the two crosslets between the soldiers and the standard.
The pendant is one of a group of coin pendants and ornaments from St. Martin's Church, Canterbury, conventionally called a 'hoard'.