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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 4118904, member: 19463&quot;]This is a subject of interest to me.&nbsp; Certainly this was the time when the billon dropped to a low enough level that someone invented silver washing for official coins.&nbsp; It had been done before by counterfeiters etc.&nbsp; I am not always in agreement with some of you as to whether a specific coin has lost its silver wash or never had any so what we see is just poor billon.&nbsp;&nbsp; The change seems to have occurred very late in the reign of Valerian and certainly in the early period of the sole reign of Gallienus.&nbsp; I wish I could tell you either truth or my firm opinion on some coins during the changeover period but I am not as certain as some that my ideas are correct.&nbsp; I do consider the two below rightly placed.</p><p><br /></p><p>Valerian billon not silvered</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1068019[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Gallienus silvered</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1068020[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>In Gaul, Postumus was slower to adopt the poor metal of Gallienus.&nbsp; His coins remained better silver for a few years longer.&nbsp; I do not have a soft and porous Postumus matching the late Valerians but the one below does seem to have retained silver wash.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1068021[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>I am less than certain that the Gallic mints actually did silvering and that what I have seen is not an artifact of cleaning.&nbsp; Certainly there are later coins of Postumus that are brown but I do not have one that I consider certainly silvered and partly peeling.&nbsp; I would be interested in seeing examples that are certainly washed (modern improvements by collectors do not count).[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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