What's the acceptable weight range for an authentic non-crystallized 2nd c. denarii? I just picked up a few Marcus Aurelius denarii and I'm afraid they're underweight.
Mat and JA have it right, but I would add that many coins from this period can be underweight as well. I own one that weighs in at 2.6g. Looking at several reference materials, it's not unheard of to find MA coins as light weight at 2.3g. The average though would be as JA indicated.
I have not seen as much written on this about later denarii but I suspect that the Republican practice of making weights of individual coins less important than making a specified number of coins out of a weight of metal. I believe that this period was aiming at 96 coins to the Roman pound which works out to about 3.4g. If the caster of flans was nearing the end of a pound and still needed several coins, there might be some lighter ones. Similarly if he was within five coins of the 96 and still had a lot left, there might be some big ones. I suspect pouring flans to correct size was something of a special skill developed by practice. We know the Republicans adjusted weights with their scoops to remove metal but this stopped before the end of the Republic. I wonder how it was done later.
As the silver content drops off and the copper increases the weight of a coin can be heavily influenced by the ground conditions and cleaning methods. My lightest denarius of the period is illustrated below:- It was perfectly genuine but weighed in at 1.459 grams.
That doesn't sound bad. See Doug's post above as to how they measured out the silver. If you've got pics, post them, because counterfeit detection depends a lot on analysis of the style and various indicators that might suggest casting.
You mean Marcus Aurelius didn't dress up as a woman sometimes?? You're right, I haven't really identified them yet though - I just wanted to figure out if they're genuine first. I know 4 is Faustina, I'm guessing 1 is Trajan, and I thought both 2 and 3 were MA. I guess I just assumed every emperor with a jewfro was Marcus Aurelius. Do they look alright though? I need to stop buying coins that I can't authenticate myself, but sometimes I just can't resist.
All look believably real but have suffered over the years. All look like they should be a bit light due to wear or porosity (especially the Faustina which I suspect is lighter than the others???). I really do not like the look of #3 which has an odd look rather than good metal but it is always possible that a few flans were poured last and got more slag. I could be plated but does not really look right for this either. IMHO, #2 is worth more than the other three (possibly combined???) but still not all that much. All look like they wee cleaned from considerable crust which also can reduce weight.