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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Valentinian, post: 3765442, member: 44316&quot;]I think it is okay to be confused by our terms for various ancient-coin denominations.</p><p><br /></p><p>What you really need to know most is the diameter, so you can judge the size of a coin in a photograph. Weights (and metal) determine the denomination, but if you read a coin is &quot;10.86&quot; grams that may not make the size leap to mind the way &quot;22 mm&quot; should. To collect ancient coins, you really need to learn how sizes expressed in mm correspond to coins in hand. For reference, a new nickel weighs 5.00 grams. A US dime is 18 mm, a cent is 19 mm, a nickel 21 mm, a quarter 24 mm, a half-dollar 30.4 mm, and a silver dollar 38 mm. When buying an ancient coin, be sure to check the size which will be given in millimeters--unless it is such a common denomination that the seller expects you to know.</p><p><br /></p><p>As Ed noted, there are many ancient coins that are of denominations with ancient names unknown to us.&nbsp; If they are common coins, we make up names if we don&#039;t know them. For example, there are very many coins of the era of Constantine that we call &quot;AE3&quot; (17-21 mm), which is just a reference to their size. Bigger than &quot;AE4&quot; (anything late Roman smaller than 17) and smaller than &quot;AE2&quot; and much smaller than AE1 (above 25 mm, like the &quot;bull&quot; type of Julian II). There are many complications to Roman coin denomination after c. AD 215 when the radiate was introduced by Caracalla.</p><p><br /></p><p>For many Greek cities we think we know what a &quot;drachm&quot; weighed (in Athens, it was about 17.2/4 grams = 4.3 grams). Multiples and fractions of that have names. But, if a city has a different largest-denomination, as, say, Corinth, we agree to use &quot;stater&quot; for that silver coin and let the scholar argue how many drachms it was. Thus, you can see denominations like &quot;1/12 stater.&quot; (To some extent, that is an admission of our ignorance.)</p><p><br /></p><p>You can have lots of fun reading scholarly books and finding out what we know about denominations. But, as a collector, just be sure you know the diameter of the coins you are buying from internet pictures.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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