Small barbarous imitation, but of what?

[Pellinore]

Maybe not tiny, not a minimus, but obviously a small coin with thin fabric. The head could be anybody's, but the reverse shows two people in eager conversation, holding high an unclear object. It was sold to me as a Roman barbarous imitation, but I'm not sure of this deduction.
14 mm, 1.01g.

-- Paul

[JMP]

Hello Pellinore,
Interesting to have such a piece though!
The inspiration for the reverse must come from Victoria/Nike (with wings and wreath) honoring an emperor or maybe rather an empress, when we may assume the second person has long hair and also judging the face on the obverse. But the quality of the images is such, that we will probably never know who was portrayed or which particular coin was imitated. And it are not the legends which can bring light in the darkness here  .
Nevertheless, a gem in its kind.

[JMP]

Well, it kept me busy and I could not let it go.
I think your imitation must be manufactured between 383 and 408 AD, the years that Arcadius and Honorius were co-emperors, Arcadius in the East and Honorius in the West.
Underneath, you see your coin between Arcadius' and Honorius' coin type: VIRTUS EXERCITI.
The inspiration must have come from them . . .

[Pellinore]

Thanks very much JMP, I think that's spot on. At first I thought the obverse portrait to be a woman, an empress, and the coin dating from 330-350. But the diminutive size leads me to a later date, and the barbarous Virtus Exerciti could be just the right answer.
— Paul