Let’s say we were living in Rome under the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Would it have been common to see coinage of Augustus still in circulation? If not Augustus what about coinage of Vespasian? Trajan? How long did a Roman Emperor’s coinage tend to stay in circulation after that Emperor’s reign had ended?
This concurrent thread by Donna touches on the question (see pages 2 and 3), at least for denarii. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/restored-legionary-denarius-of-mark-antony.385694/
There were Marc Antony legionary denarii in circulation during the Antonine period. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26637375
From what I’ve read Mark Antony denarii seemed to have been around an artificially long period of time due to being more debased than “official” denarii of the time such as the denarii minted by Caesar, Augustus and Tiberius. I’m sure that debasement by Nero probably resulted in most of the older & purer denarii being hoarded/sold off as bullion but I’m curious how long coinage survived during periods of stability & nondebasement.
Ancient Rome is such a broad time period, so there’s no clear answer. In general, coins tend to circulate more heavily when the Roman economy is healthy. In contrast, coins were stashed away in hoards during economic depressions. For example, silver denarii of Gordian III are plentiful today as so many were hoarded during the Crisis of the 3rd century. Most of Gordian’s denarii survive in high grades, which indicates that many were buried by their owners without getting the chance to enter circulation. Hoarding Gordian’s denarii makes sense, as these were among the last coins minted in good silver, with successive emperors flooding the economy with increasingly debased antoninianii. As some others noted before, the Marc Antony legionary denarii remained in circulation for nearly 2 centuries due to the debased purity. A legionary denarius is around 80% silver, which makes the coin noticeably lighter compared to Republican and Julio-Claudian denarii which were 95%-99% silver. This debased purity allowed the legionary denarii to survive the melting pot of Nero’s reforms, as the legionary denarii had similar silver content to Nero’s post-reform denarii.
As a fun data point, I have a bronze minted by Vespasian that was countermarked by the Ostrogoths 450 years later: OSTROGOTHS. Uncertain king. Early to mid 6th century. Æ 42 Nummi (28mm, 10.93 g, 6h). Countermarked early imperial bronze issue. Mark of valuation (XLII) cut into obverse of a Rome mint as of Vespasian with eagle-on-globe reverse.
Sestertii of the Flavians and Antonines remained in circulation until the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus. The Guelma hoard of 7495 Sestertii (ca. 258 AD) for example included (apart from an As of Augustus) single specimens of Galba and Vespasian, 4 of Titus, 9 of Domitian, 4 of Nerva, 61 of Trajan, 265 of Hadrian, 346 of Antoninus Pius, and 374 of Marcus Aurelius.
Per Wikipedia: Due to the economic power and longevity of the Roman state, Roman currency was widely used throughout western Eurasia and northern Africa from classical times into the Middle Ages. I would guess that the merchant that accepted the coinage in the Middle Ages did so by weight.
This follis of Constantine was actually circulating in early 20th c. France. Of course it had been buried in the ground for centuries, but when it was found it was re-introduced in circulation as small change.
I've already written that previously but it belongs here too : My grand dad, born 1896, often told me he would find the occasionnal roman middle bronze in circulation as a kid. Being roughly 10 grams of copper/bronze it would then have the same value as a 10 centimes coin. Go figure : a kid spending a Nero as to buy sweets Q
About 25 years ago I paid a physician friend an As of Trajan for making a house call to remove a bead our toddler daughter had gotten lodged in her ear. The transaction worked because my friend collects ancients....
Very interesting topic. you'd think the debased silvered antoniniani would drive everything else out of circulation, at least for awhile as people hoarded the "good silver" coins. If not, I have no idea how they would be tariffed against each other. Diocletian's Edict attempted to fix prices and wages on pain of death but it failed. Not sure if these were radiates or folles. It's interesting that the tetrarchs issued the reverse type SACRA MONETA AVGG ET CAESS on folles to try to restore public confidence in the coinage at the time.
Cheech most of us are dinosaurs...... You know Doug kept telling Moses he was heading in the wrong direction.40 years later.....he told Moses told you so.....!
