Why the Siliqua were extensively clipped, but Denarius remained largely intact?

It just occurred to me why is it really common to see a clipped siliqua compared to a denarius. Tbh I’ve never seen a denarius clipped like we see with the late Roman silver!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I think you can blame the Anglo-Saxons. When the Romans left Britain in 410, the supply of coins was cut off. No-one really knows what the British did then, but it involved clipping siliquae down to the size of the barbarous issues used by their European cousins. They used the clippings to make more coins, and to make ingots as they shifted to using bullion instead.

British hoards from the time can be 30% clipped, and most hoards of Roman siliquae are found in Britain. Although since no new coins were being added to circulation, it isn't clear when they were deposited - the 390s, 400s, 410s, even the 460s have been suggested.

I'm sure people would've liked to have clipped denarii too, but the Romans were in control of the currency and wouldn't have allowed such blatant clipping. By contrast, the Anglo-Saxons seem to have done it centrally.

Arcadius Siliqua, 395-402

Mediolanum. Silver, 11mm, 0.66g (Should be 15mm, 0.95g). DN ARCADI-VS PF AVG, pearl diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right. VIRTVS ROMANORVM, Roma seated left on cuirass/throne holding inverted spear and Victory on globe; mintmark MDPS (RIC X, 1227). Excavated in Yorkshire.

Of course, it's also easier to clip a thin siliqua than a denarius...

 

The siliqua was also a scarcer denomination with what seems to have been a more specific function and minting timing, mostly military and political. If the clipping was done in the West (and mostly in Britain), in the northern outskirts of the Empire on the Rhine and Danube frontier and beyond much of the silver received by the barbarian auxiliary or paid as tribute to Germanic warlords was holed and likely worn. And since it was primary used as a political and military payment, while the regular economic functions in the cities and rural areas were left to the billon coinages, a lot less siliquae exist today mirroring probably the fact that they were less available in the usual commerce back then when they were minted.