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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 3739425, member: 19463&quot;]I agree with nothing in that Forum link except Aurelian improved the quality of the old radiate denomination.&nbsp; We have no idea what the coins were called when Caracalla first issued them but someone decided they needed a name so they invented Antoninianus.&nbsp; Someone also decided that what Aurelian did was not just an improvement so they decided to tack his name onto the coin just as the old one had been done.&nbsp; I will not use that name. </p><p><br /></p><p>The Forum link also botches the XXI matter.&nbsp; The coins had a core consisting of 1 part silver and 20 parts copper (~4.77%).&nbsp; Today we would say one part in a total of 21 but they thought of it as 1 added to 20.&nbsp; The &#039;5%&#039; silver was not all in the coating but the thin coating&nbsp; added very little silver to the weight of the coin.&nbsp;&nbsp; This is not the place to go through the evidence but just don&#039;t believe everything you read online even if it was copied from some old book that was obsolete long before there was an &#039;online&#039;. </p><p><br /></p><p>Names of coins from 600 BC to the end of Roman times are often things hung on coins by collectors and scholars who could not deal with the concept of saying &#039;I don&#039;t know&#039;.&nbsp; Some of the names are just the language of the day for &#039;coin&#039; (nummus, stater).&nbsp; Scholars often take it upon themselves to ignore or dispute the guesses of the past replacing them with their own guesses or systems with no stronger attachment to reality than the old standards.&nbsp; It would be wonderful to know what the people who used the coins called them and realize that they probably did not remain consistent over the spans of time and place.&nbsp; After all we have five cent coins most people call nickels today but that were once made of silver and called half dimes unless you really go back and find a half disme.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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