Just finished reading this story & I didn't even know Double-aureus even existed. Check out the story & a beautiful HQ image of the coin. http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/63462
Am I missing something? Afaik an aureus weighs between 7-8g, and for a double-aureus I assume it should be at least 14g, but the image in the website only states 5.62g?
It would have been a 2/3 Aureus under Nero They got cheap with their gold content. Rumours where that the Arras Hoard contained two 100 Aurei coins/ struck under Constantius I. ????? Probably minting Double aurei with 1/2 the weight of an Augustus Aureus saved them $$$ paying their soldiers.
Looking at examples on acsearch an aureus of Volusian typically weighs 3.7-3.9gms. Binios of Volusian range from about 5.4-5.9 gms.
Very interesting as I had not heard of that denomination, though they played the same game as with the antoninianus, minting a coin that was less than twice the weight of the standard coin and declaring it worth two. A way for the central government to eke out a profit.
I admit that I had never, ever heard of the "binio" before this thread, or knew that there was such a thing as a double aureus. See the discussion at Numiswiki: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=ERIC - Denominations Gold on the other hand was considered sacred. As much as it may have pained each emperor to part with his dwindling supplies of its most precious metal no soldier would risk his life unless it was for real gold. Not until the situation had grown into a series of deep crises in the middle of the third century that emperors decided to tinker with the next best thing: their weight. The Aureus which had traditionally weighed between 7-8 grams each went as far down as just over 2 grams under the reign of Gallienus. How the paymasters kept a straight face on pay day is anyone 's guess and it 's quite possible that the scam was masqueraded as salary increases by paying two or three of these Aurei while, of course, the total outlay of metal was still below the traditional amount. As the fineness in silver was steadily lowered, and the weight of the Aureus became erratic, new denominations were introduced to further blur the government 's cost-cutting schemes and attempts to curb rampant inflation. The silver Antoninianus was introduced around the year 215 under Caracalla at a nominal value of two Denarii and, for gold, the Binio was introduced a few years later as a double Aureus. Since gold coins were never a major part of everyday commerce the Binio was a nonstarter but the Antoninianus drove the Denarius into extinction within 30 years of its introduction. And it, too, would suffer severe debasement and reduction in weight.
The Antoninianus struck under Volusian weighted only 3.3 gram = the old denarius weight. Even worse the purity of the silver was only 30% but surprisenly still looked good silver.
What a wonderful Volusian binio and informative thread. We are so fortunate to have this distraction these days. One can only wonder how this coin got to Somogy, Hungary (Roman Pannonia). Nice short of the emperor Volusian: https://youtube.com/shorts/s5QEroZkOKQ?feature=share
