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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1802549, member: 19463&quot;]It has been shown to be just plain wrong that Roman Republican coins were struck to a tight per coin standard.&nbsp; Instead they produced a specific number of coins from a given amount of silver (termed &#039;al marco&#039;).&nbsp; We have coins that show gouges where the flan was reduced in weight before the coin was struck but these coins are not necessarily either high or low in weight as individuals.&nbsp; There are even rare coins that show two separate gouges.&nbsp; The theory is that the mint produced a number of flans from slightly more than the appropriate weight of silver and then randomly gouged coins from the lot until the whole was exactly the correct weight.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I regret I do not own a twice gouged coin but there is one shown on Andrew McCabe&#039;s discussions on the matter on Forvm.&nbsp; Here are a few adjusted coins.&nbsp; Since such coins seem to be found mostly in a restricted date range, it is quite possible that the practice was in place for only part of the Republican period.&nbsp; I do not know how the weights were handled before and after this period or whether the al marco system was done but in another manner that would not show on the coins so much (edge trimming?).&nbsp; This certainly would be a good area for research for someone with access to a large number of coins of the same issue all in good shape (a large hoard?).</p><p>[ATTACH=full]293115[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]293116[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]293117[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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