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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 4242503, member: 57463&quot;]I was looking for archaic silver and it was medieval specialist Dr. Andy Singer who handed this across the counter and said, &quot;Sometimes gold can be as cheap as silver.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH]1083341[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]1083342[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>1/12 stater electrum. Miletus c. 500 BCE.</p><p><br /></p><p>It is my only ancient gold.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>It is not uncommon for Byzantine (Romaion) gold to be at about twice bullion, which is pretty good for anything ancient and truly numismatic. They struck a lot of gold to pay off their enemies and maintain their shrinking empire. As Islam rose, Rome contracted. </p><p><br /></p><p>(1) They called themselves &quot;Roman&quot; or &quot;Romaion.&quot; The word &quot;Byzantine&quot; was a French invention of the 18th century encyclopedists.&nbsp; See &quot;What, if anything, is a Byzantine?&quot; here: <a href="http://www.romanity.org/htm/fox.01.en.what_if_anything_is_a_byzantine.01.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.romanity.org/htm/fox.01.en.what_if_anything_is_a_byzantine.01.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.romanity.org/htm/fox.01.en.what_if_anything_is_a_byzantine.01.htm</a></p><p><br /></p><p>(2) I f you read science fiction, allow me to recommend <i>Up the Line</i> by Robert Silverberg. It is a time travel story set in the Eastern Roman Empire where time guys have little villas of their own. (Silverberg has other science fiction with archaeology as the framework.)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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