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Message:: [QUOTE="Victor_Clark, post: 25111957, member: 10613"]I think that some of the people that modified these coins had some artistic talent, perhaps some kind of craftsman, and this was a way for them to show off their work. They took pride in what they did. Other modified coins demonstrate a complete lack of skill or care. Function over form. this one is getting a bit more crude [ATTACH=full]1602743[/ATTACH] Galeria ValeriaA.D. 309-31020mm 4.2gGAL VALERIA AVG; Diademed and draped bust right.VENERI VICTRICI; Venus standing facing, head left, right holding up apple, left raising drapery over left shoulder; star in left field, E in right.In ex. •SM•TS•RIC VI Thessalonica 33 These next two are bad; but they served their purpose with no aesthetic concern. [ATTACH=full]1602744[/ATTACH]  21mm 4.3gUnidentified Late Roman bronze [ATTACH=full]1602745[/ATTACH] 19x20mm 4.4gcirca A.D. 385GLORIA ROMANORVM emperor reverse from Constantinople These were also used by individual shops or stalls. I imagine the nicer establishments had the fancier weights; perhaps modified by a professional for a fee. The cruder ones may have been used in the alley shop, maybe carved up by the owner. The reason you find so many of these weights is that people "nibbled away" (clipped or shaved) at the solidus, so they had to be weighed. 'Emperor Julian Augustus to Mamertinus, Praetorian Prefect. The purchase and sale of solidi are impeded if the solidi are clipped or diminished in size, or nibbled away, to use the proper term for such avarice, since some persons refuse to accept such solidi on the ground that they are light and inadequate. Therefore, it is Our pleasure to establish in each municipality an official called by the Greek word zygostates (lit. weigher), who by reason of his trustworthiness and vigilance will neither deceive nor be deceived, so that in accordance with his judgment and reliabilty he may settle any dispute that may arise between the seller and the buyer with respect to solidi. - Given on the ninth day before the kalends of May at Salona in the year of the fourth consulship of Julian Augustus and the consulship of Sallustius [= April 23, 363].' (Cod. Theod. XII.7,2).[/QUOTE]

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