O.K. I know that all of you guys learnt this at 'Grade School' but I 'went to the dentist' that day, and I missed it. Can you please tell me how to differentiate between an Antoninianus and a Follis?
The follis was first made in 294 AD after Diocletian's coinage reforms. Diocletian did make antoninianus before this coinage reform. I don't know much about how to differentiate antoninianus and Antoninianus under Diocletian, but if you're able to find out that a coin that looks like a follis, but was made before 294, it is a debased antoninianus. And of course, after the coinage reforms of 294, the antoninianus was discontinued.
I believe the first Antoninianus (or Ant as everyone calls it) started with Caracalla or around that time. In simple terms it just means that visually the obverse bust is crowned. These can be silver or bronze, or silver plated bronze.
The above answers confuse me. I'll offer my page on the overall subject: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/denom.html Diocletian did a currency reform in which he eliminated the old denomination the antoninianus. The main coin of the reform was the large Follis which was accompanied by a radiate fraction (2/5 we believe) and laureate fraction (1/5). The radiate is the one easily confused with the antoninianus because both are radiate and about the same size (think nickel to cent). In that day, the antoninianus contained 1 part silver mixed with 20 parts base metal and were often marked XXI (Roman) or KA (Greek) starting with Aurelian. These were issued with silver wash making them look silver when new but most are now seen copper color. The post-reform radiate coin had no silver inside, no silver wash and no XXI marking. Many (not all) had the mintmark in the field but even the ones with a mintmark in exergue never had XXI. The follis started larger (we call it AE1 size but think of a half dollar roughly) but declined in size over the next couple decades until it was eliminated in the next reform under Constans and Constantius II that brought us the FEL TEMP REPARATIO coins. The follis did have some silver and was silver washed. A few large folles were even marked XXI to attest to that silver content. There is one burp that can get confusing. For a short time, mints under Licinius issued a few folles with radiate portraits These were 20 years after the end of the antoninianus and certainly confused noone in that day. Fortunately they were not issued until all of the rulers that had the post reform radiates had retired so separation is easy. Ask questions for details that remain unclear.
If I look at my personal collection: my first antoninianus is indeed Caracalla (200 AD-ish) ... oh, and they were silver (AR) then my first Billon/Potin antoninianus is Valerian-I (250 AD-ish) and then my first Follis is Maximianus (300 AD-ish) Ummm, am I close? (or out to lunch?)
Sorry, Steve. I selected 32 coins showing the history of the major denominations in the last half of the Roman Empire. I'll be happy to step aside and let you write the page on the matter if you want.
Thank you everyone (Esp. Doug) for all of the contributions. I did look up the various denominations on the internet, and I noted the similarities, but I couldn't find a (simple) answer that I could rely on. In short, it appears that 210 - 295 AD is antoninianus, and after that came the Follis, neither of which were called that when they were being used. I shall start with that (Identifying the Emperor) and then look more closely at 'Radiate', 'Crescent', size and weight. Sounds like you have it, Steve.
