Potin with little helmeted head

The Sequani occupied the territory around modern Besançon and were among the Gaulish tribes most deeply entangled in the power struggles preceding Caesar's Gallic Wars — it was the Sequani who first invited Ariovistus and his Germanic forces into Gaul, a decision that destabilized the region and gave Caesar his pretext for intervention after 58 BC. Potin coinage of this type was cast rather than struck, using molten alloy poured into clay or stone molds, which accounts for the surface texture that distinguishes these from struck bronzes.

The long production window reflects continued local circulation well into the period of Roman consolidation.