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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 3661226, member: 19463&quot;]This Otacilia sestertius is 21.6g and well made.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]984362[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>...as is this 20.9g Philip I.[ATTACH=full]984364[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Later in the reign when the Saeculares coins were made, the weight standards fell.&nbsp; My wolf is dumpy and 13.9g.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]984365[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>From the same series, this Tranquillitas is only 11.7g.[ATTACH=full]984367[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I call this Decius at 11.2g a sestertius.&nbsp; The diameter and dies are sestertius size but the flan is thin.&nbsp; I have never been able to convince myself of why this coin is light but I have a theory.&nbsp; It is way too big to be an as.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]984346[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>This Decius dupondius (radiate crown) is 7.5g and fits the reduced diameter of that denomination.&nbsp; Double its weight would be 15g. and appropriate for a sestertius.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]984349[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Using that theory, this 14.3g sestertius would seem in line with the dupondius above.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]984354[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>...but this 18.1g sestertius seems heavy.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]984353[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>...as does this 17.1g Herennia sestertius.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]984352[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>After worrying too much about the matter, I decided that weight standards were not a priority in the Decius mint.</p><p><br /></p><p>The above makes my 32.5g double a reasonable weight even though there are 40g coins. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]984355[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Summery: I don&#039;t know.&nbsp; Has anyone published a theory making sens of this other than the &#039;not a priority&#039; idea?&nbsp; I&#039;ll offer this completely unscientific idea.&nbsp; After making bronzes of good weight for the first part of the reign, Philip lowered the standards for the Saeculares coins.&nbsp; Decius took over the reduced standards but soon restored some of the reduction adding his very special double sestertius in the hope of restoring faith in the bronzes.&nbsp; This, along with a good dose of individual flans not being carefully adjusted, leaves us with a wide variation of bronzes which hung on for a short while before pretty much collapsing under Valerian.&nbsp; I have insufficient evidence to call this a theory but I will throw it out there as a guess. Those of you who are interested in weight could study the coins online and see if a pattern emerges or if the idea of &#039;just careless&#039; makes more sense.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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