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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2424627, member: 19463&quot;]The above answers confuse me.&nbsp; I&#039;ll offer my page on the overall subject:</p><p><a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/denom.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/denom.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/denom.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Diocletian did a currency reform in which he eliminated the old denomination the antoninianus.&nbsp; </p><p>[ATTACH=full]502890[/ATTACH] </p><p>The main coin of the reform was the large Follis </p><p>[ATTACH=full]502891[/ATTACH] </p><p>which was accompanied by a radiate fraction (2/5 we believe) </p><p>[ATTACH=full]502895[/ATTACH] </p><p>and laureate fraction (1/5).</p><p>[ATTACH=full]502893[/ATTACH] </p><p>&nbsp;The radiate is the one easily confused with the antoninianus because both are radiate and about the same size (think nickel to cent).&nbsp; In that day, the antoninianus contained 1 part silver mixed with 20 parts base metal and were often marked XXI (Roman) or KA (Greek) starting with Aurelian.&nbsp; These were issued with silver wash making them look silver when new but most are now seen copper color.&nbsp; The post-reform radiate coin had no silver inside, no silver wash and no XXI marking.&nbsp; Many (not all) had the mintmark in the field but even the ones with a mintmark in exergue never had XXI.</p><p><br /></p><p>The follis started larger (we call it AE1 size but think of a half dollar roughly) but declined in size over the next couple decades until it was eliminated in the next reform under Constans and Constantius II that brought us the FEL TEMP REPARATIO coins.&nbsp; The follis did have some silver and was silver washed.&nbsp; A few large folles were even marked XXI to attest to that silver content.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]502892[/ATTACH] </p><p>There is one burp that can get confusing. For a short time, mints under Licinius issued a few folles with radiate portraits These were 20 years after the end of the antoninianus and certainly confused noone in that day.&nbsp; Fortunately they were not issued until all of the rulers that had the post reform radiates had retired so separation is easy.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]502894[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Ask questions for details that remain unclear.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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