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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 7499907, member: 110350&quot;]Like everyone else, I&#039;ve encountered many references to so-called limes denarii, but this is the first one I thought was interesting enough to buy. Before I post a photo, here&#039;s the Numiswiki entry for &quot;Limes denarius&quot; (quoting our own [USER=19463]@dougsmit[/USER]) for anyone not familiar with the term:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Limes%20denarius" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Limes%20denarius" rel="nofollow">https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Limes denarius</a></p><p><br /></p><p><font size="4"><b>&quot;<a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=limes" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=limes" rel="nofollow">Limes</a> <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Denarius" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Denarius" rel="nofollow">denarius</a></b></font></p><p>These are thought to be coins minted either officially or pseudo-officially on the fringes of the empire out of necessity. Perhaps they were used to pay soldiers on the extreme frontiers of the Roman territories or maybe to bolster the economy of regions far from the normal means of monetary distribution. Whatever the reason, many of these coins exist.</p><p><br /></p><p>According to Doug Smith &#039;s postscript to <a href="http://dougsmith.ancients.info/voc6.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://dougsmith.ancients.info/voc6.html" rel="nofollow">The Vocabulary of Classical Numismatics</a>, many Roman coins can be classified as &quot;coins of necessity&quot;:</p><p><br /></p><p>Of uncertain status are thousands (millions?) of surviving bronze coins of the <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Severan" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Severan" rel="nofollow">Severan</a> era that copy silver <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=denarii" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=denarii" rel="nofollow">denarii</a>. Some examples <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Still" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Still" rel="nofollow">still</a> bear traces of a very thin silver wash... Termed <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=limes" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=limes" rel="nofollow">Limes</a> (Lim-ace) or coins of the borders, these may be another example of coins of necessity. They may also be officially sanctioned issues for use in regions where political unrest made it hazardous to ship large amounts of silver. These low value issues could have served troops on the front and been redeemable for <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Good" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Good" rel="nofollow">good</a> coinage when they returned to the stable regions.</p><p><br /></p><p>The name &quot;Limes Denarius&quot;, although a misnomer, has been applied to these so often that it has stuck. Here again, although we know that these AE <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=denarii" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=denarii" rel="nofollow">denarii</a> are more or less faithful copies of silver prototypes, and we know that they were both struck and cast in various places - we even have numerous molds and forgers &#039; dies - we don &#039;t understand the role, if any, they may have played in the official monetary system. Were they copies made by semi-Romanized folks <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=IVST" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=IVST" rel="nofollow">just</a> outside the reach of empire? - folks who had become accustomed to the use of coin but who did not have access to official supplies? Were they a form of military scrip meant to keep large quantities of precious metal from falling into enemy <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Hands" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Hands" rel="nofollow">hands</a> in the event of a defeat - and presumably redeemable in <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Good" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Good" rel="nofollow">good</a> coin at some future date? Were they out-and-out counterfeits? Were they particularly debased official issues? (well, the cast ones probably weren &#039;t) Or did they fill some, as-yet unknown function? They might have done any or all of these at various times and places.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s mine:</p><p><br /></p><p>Caracalla Augustus &amp; Geta Caesar, Billon/AE Limes Denarius, cast[?], unknown mint, 199-200 AD or later. Obv. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Caracalla right, ANTONINVS AVGVSTVS / Rev. Bareheaded, draped, and cuirassed bust of Geta right, P SEPT GETA CAES PONT. Official Prototype: RIC IV-1 Caracalla 38, RSC III Caracalla and Geta 2. 18 mm., 3.0 g.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1296211[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>A limes denarius it may be, but I liked the portrait of Geta on the reverse, and that&#039;s why I bought it.&nbsp; Especially because nice examples of the real silver denarius of this type are extremely expensive.</p><p><br /></p><p>I asked the dealer if he was sure it wasn&#039;t simply a fourree (given the browner substance showing through to the grayish surface from underneath, on the shoulder on each side), and whether he thought it was struck or cast. This is what he said: &quot;The thing I&#039;ve noticed with Severan limes denarii, is that the metals are inconsistent. There are billon alloys, lead, tin, and also various AEs, even yellowy brassy examples. I think what we&#039;re seeing on the shoulders there is a leached spot of iron content out of the coin creating some iron oxides on the surface - by my reckoning were it a fourree it would not appear &#039;silver-esque&#039; but rather silver over top of an AE core, and I would also expect there to be plating breaks showing a core, along the edge break. Overall I think most of the limes I have handled, are &#039;grey&#039; but probably presented much brighter contemporarily. . . . The general consensus seems to be that limes denarii were cast, but not plated, although both fourees and limes were common to this period as you know.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Interestingly, I found two other Caracalla/Geta limes denarii on acsearch, both of which appear to me to be double die-matches to mine:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1296215[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1296213[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The dealer agreed with me: &quot;I notice die matches with limes denarii, much more commonly, that&#039;s for sure, and this is another set, looks like.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>The more I read about limes denarii, the more I realize that we don&#039;t know very much about them, including where, when, or for what exact purpose they were minted. Except that examples of the official silver versions were obviously used to create them, given the accuracy of the designs and legends. (I haven&#039;t looked to see if I can find a match between mine and any of the official dies.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Please post your own examples of limes denarii, and any theories you may have about them.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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