A piece of history from the pick-bin; even though it has a hole, I just liked the look of Severus Alexander. This issue was minted at the beginning of Severus Alexander’s reign, one year after Elagabalus was overthrown. Holder of the tribunicia potestas for the second time (“My second peaceful year”). At the beginning of his rule he devaluated the denarius, reducing the purity of the silver adding base metal. This denarius, a denomination used to pay the army, therefore forwarded a challenging message to the soldiers. On the one hand, the Roman empire was relatively at peace with its neighbors, and the soldiers would not risk their lives. Yet on the other hand, they would not benefit from looting or taking slaves from the enemy. Moreover, they were aware that their wages could purchase less. The Roman empire was starting to face one of the main problems that would characterize the third century, namely inflation. Quoted from https://www.judaism-and-rome.org/ AR Denarius, Rome, 223 AD 18 x 19 mm, 2.907 g RIC IV, 27; Sear RCV II (2002) 7896; Cohen 231 Ob.: IMP C M AVR SEV ALEXAND AVG laureate, draped bust of Alexander Severus facing right. Rev.: PM TRP II COS PP Pax standing left, holding olive branch in r. hand and and scepter in l.
I like the story behind it, it enhances the intrinsic value beyond the hole. Someday there will, or rather might be a way, to trace the last owner by a super DNA test, wouldn’t that be great…
I love holed coins! It's genuinely one of the things I find especially interesting about the following two. Alexandrian coins often have holes at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock, supposedly for use as funerary amulets (the orientation makes clear that these almost always were placed reverse side facing out): On this one I guess they didn't feel they could fit a second hole (a much smaller coin, an AE Obol, not an AE Drachm): Both illustrated in Kellner's Alexandria:
What was the pre-reduced weight & purity of the denarius and the purity after Severus Alexander's reduction? I'll guess the old purity was around 40%?
At the end of Severus' reign and early into Caracalla's, the Roman denarius had an approximate silver purity of around 55%, but by the end of Caracalla's reign the purity had been reduced to about 51%.
In 215 AD Caracalla introduced the antoninianus, a coin intended to serve as a double denarius. This new currency, however, had a silver purity of about 52% for the period between 215 and 217 AD and an actual size ratio of 1 antoninianus to 1.5 denarii. This in effect made the antoninianus equal to about 1.5 denarii. The reduced silver purity of the coins caused people to hoard the old coins that had higher silver content, aggravating the inflation problem caused by the earlier devaluation of the denarii.
before that Antoninus Pius decreased the silver purity of the denarius from 89% to 83.5, the actual silver weight dropping from 2.88 grams to 2.68 grams.
You mean like this? A hoard of Antonine (96 - 192AD) denarii I photographed while in Warsaw last year. Quite worn: indicating they were in circulation a bit before they were hoarded.
Nice one @cmezner - I checked my collection and found I have one too (if I got the attribution correct): Severus Alexander Denarius (223 A.D.) Rome Mint (3rd Emission) IMP C M AVR SEV ALEXAND AVG, laureate, draped bust rt. / PM TRP II COS PP, Pax standing left, holding branch & sceptre. RIC 27; RSC 236; Sear 7896 (2.56 grams / 19 mm) eBay Mar. 2018 As for holes, no problem! Here is a batch I bought a while back, where almost all of them were holed and plugged (there are a few exceptions). The holes are almost at 2-4 and 8-10 o'clock, as if holed for a bracelet: Here are a few other strays with holes: The nice thing about holes is that they generally bring a steep discount in price, which I usually find well worth it.
Magnentius A.D. 350-3 25x27mm 8.7g D N MAGNENTIVS P F AVG; bare-headed, draped & cuirassed bust right SALVS DD NN AVG ET CAES; large Chi-Rho flanked by A-W In ex. PAR RIC VIII Arles 194 holed in antiquity, perhaps for use as a sieve
@Marsyas Mike, @Victor_Clark those are awesome coins with holes. Yes, they really have a steep discount in price. I got 6 coins for $100 from the pick bin, so each is for a little under $17
