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A hybrid Roman Republican denarius -- could it possibly be real?
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<p>[QUOTE="DonnaML, post: 4716050, member: 110350"][USER=72790]@kevin McGonigal[/USER] and [USER=75525]@rrdenarius[/USER]: Yes, it's my first hybrid coin of the Roman Republic or any other era.</p><p><br /></p><p>And yes, one would think a genuine silver RR denarius, hybrid or otherwise, would have an SG over 10.</p><p><br /></p><p>What percentage silver would you expect the average Roman Republican silver coin to have? How about the average Roman Republican fouree? 10%?</p><p><br /></p><p>Here's a table I found listing the specific gravities of silver, copper, and alloys with various percentages of silver in a silver-copper alloy:</p><p><br /></p><p>100% silver 10.49</p><p>100% copper 8.49</p><p><br /></p><p>98% silver 10.45</p><p>90% silver 10.31</p><p>83.5% silver 10.20</p><p>75% silver 10.05</p><p>50% silver 9.65</p><p>40% silver 9.527</p><p>30% silver 9.37</p><p>20% silver 9.234</p><p><br /></p><p>The new digital scale, with measurements in 100ths of a gram, arrived this afternoon, after I ordered it last night. The coins I order should arrive so quickly!</p><p><br /></p><p>So I tried some further experiments with the Capito and two other Republican serrate denarii:</p><p><br /></p><p>1. Crawford 380/1, C. Poblicius (Roma/Hercules strangling Nemean lion), 3.84 g.: two measurements, both resulting in a SG calculation of 10.37 -- so something over 90% silver.</p><p><br /></p><p>2. Crawford 384/1, L.Papius (Juno Sospita/Gryhon), 3.79 g: two measurements, one resulting in a SG calculation of 10.42 and the other 10.24 -- so one something a little below 98% silver and the other something above 83.5% silver (Hey, precision and repeatability I don't exactly expect from a $17 scale, regardless of the fancy measurements!)</p><p><br /></p><p>3. Crawford 378/1, C. Marius Capito (Ceres/Husbandman with oxen), 3.44 g.: two measurements, one resulting in a SG calculation of 9.55 and the other 9.29. So one a bit above 40% silver, and the other one a little above 20%.</p><p><br /></p><p>Note that even the lower of these two SG numbers is considerably higher than the highest SG numbers that Debernardi lists in his article (see citation in the OP) for any of the Roman Republican plated coins he measured: 9.07 and 9.08 for two coins which -- like mine -- "have reached us without any damage to their silver plating, which is intact" (p. 341).</p><p><br /></p><p>Would 40+% silver be a high percentage for a Roman Republican plated coin/fourree? How about 20+% silver? Especially in the former case, why would a counterfeiter use that much silver? Does a 40% silver plated coin -- even a hybrid -- suggest the possiblity that it might be an official mint product?</p><p><br /></p><p>In either case, the plating must be pretty thick, which probably explains why it's intact.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now that I'm essentially certain that it's a fourree/plated, I have to decide what to do. I'm still not sure. Of all the Capitos I saw for sale at anything like what I thought was a manageable price for me, this one was by far the nicest!</p><p><br /></p><p>I wish I could wait to decide until the Schaefer ODEC files are released for Crawford 378/1, so I could get a better idea of what went on here, but obviously I can't.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="DonnaML, post: 4716050, member: 110350"][USER=72790]@kevin McGonigal[/USER] and [USER=75525]@rrdenarius[/USER]: Yes, it's my first hybrid coin of the Roman Republic or any other era. And yes, one would think a genuine silver RR denarius, hybrid or otherwise, would have an SG over 10. What percentage silver would you expect the average Roman Republican silver coin to have? How about the average Roman Republican fouree? 10%? Here's a table I found listing the specific gravities of silver, copper, and alloys with various percentages of silver in a silver-copper alloy: 100% silver 10.49 100% copper 8.49 98% silver 10.45 90% silver 10.31 83.5% silver 10.20 75% silver 10.05 50% silver 9.65 40% silver 9.527 30% silver 9.37 20% silver 9.234 The new digital scale, with measurements in 100ths of a gram, arrived this afternoon, after I ordered it last night. The coins I order should arrive so quickly! So I tried some further experiments with the Capito and two other Republican serrate denarii: 1. Crawford 380/1, C. Poblicius (Roma/Hercules strangling Nemean lion), 3.84 g.: two measurements, both resulting in a SG calculation of 10.37 -- so something over 90% silver. 2. Crawford 384/1, L.Papius (Juno Sospita/Gryhon), 3.79 g: two measurements, one resulting in a SG calculation of 10.42 and the other 10.24 -- so one something a little below 98% silver and the other something above 83.5% silver (Hey, precision and repeatability I don't exactly expect from a $17 scale, regardless of the fancy measurements!) 3. Crawford 378/1, C. Marius Capito (Ceres/Husbandman with oxen), 3.44 g.: two measurements, one resulting in a SG calculation of 9.55 and the other 9.29. So one a bit above 40% silver, and the other one a little above 20%. Note that even the lower of these two SG numbers is considerably higher than the highest SG numbers that Debernardi lists in his article (see citation in the OP) for any of the Roman Republican plated coins he measured: 9.07 and 9.08 for two coins which -- like mine -- "have reached us without any damage to their silver plating, which is intact" (p. 341). Would 40+% silver be a high percentage for a Roman Republican plated coin/fourree? How about 20+% silver? Especially in the former case, why would a counterfeiter use that much silver? Does a 40% silver plated coin -- even a hybrid -- suggest the possiblity that it might be an official mint product? In either case, the plating must be pretty thick, which probably explains why it's intact. Now that I'm essentially certain that it's a fourree/plated, I have to decide what to do. I'm still not sure. Of all the Capitos I saw for sale at anything like what I thought was a manageable price for me, this one was by far the nicest! I wish I could wait to decide until the Schaefer ODEC files are released for Crawford 378/1, so I could get a better idea of what went on here, but obviously I can't.[/QUOTE]
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