Back with another basic question for my own curiosity. Is there a good source that details the changes to fineness of Roman denarii over the course of time? I've seen rough figures thrown around but there must be a more definitive, authoritative compilation somewhere that narrows it down.
I just googled: silver purity roman This was on page 1: https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/6842/NGC-ancient-coins/
Hi @Vess1, A basic search is a good place to start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denarius - Broucheion
Back in the day, Walker’s books on “The Metrology of the Roman Silver Coinage” (1976, 3 vols) was the authoritative word.
Thanks, I had read that article before. It's a general run down. Was looking for more info than that. Based on that article how much silver is in a denarius of Caracalla?
This chart contradicts the NGC article. It says they would have been 83% during the reign of Severus while the NGC article states they were debased to 57% at that time.
