Coins started to circulate in the Tarraco area from a very early time. This can be seen from the find (in 1860) of a hoard of coins from the mints of Selinus, Massalia and Emporion, which can be dated to the end of the 4th century BC. At that time, the use of coinage on the Iberian Peninsula was almost nonexistent and only Emporion was minting coins.

During the first half of the 3rd century BC, the only places minting coins in Hispania were the Greek colonies of Emporion and Rhode and the Punic-Phoenician colonies of Gades and Ebusus. Consequently, the use of coinage was scant and it was not until the Second Punic War that coins minted in Tarraco started to appear.

In 237 BC the Carthaginians disembarked on the Peninsula and started to mint coins, in order, amongst other reasons, to pay their soldiers. These coins must have circulated in Tarraco, although probably to a small extent, as some have been discovered by archaeologists. However, Tarraco and its surroundings did not enter fully into the monetary economy until after 218 BC, when the Romans arrived in Hispania to wage war against the Carthaginians. The Romans introduced their own coinage which was minted in Rome. In addition they caused the local Iberian tribes to mint their own coins, possibly to pay tributes to Rome. There must have been other reasons, but they are difficult to determine with the little knowledge we currently have.

The finds of coins indicate that during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, the most common coinage in circulation in Tàrraco and its territory was minted in Kese, the name of the mint belonging to the Cessetani and probably also the native name for the town. Other coins in circulation came from the mints of Rome, the Iberian mints of the Ebro Valley and Levant coast, Galia, Ebusus and coastal towns in the south of the Peninsula.