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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 8235861, member: 110350&quot;]I admit that I had never, ever heard of the &quot;binio&quot; before this thread, or knew that there was such a thing as a double aureus. See the discussion at Numiswiki:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=ERIC%20-%20Denominations" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=ERIC%20-%20Denominations" rel="nofollow">https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=ERIC - Denominations</a></p><p><br /></p><p>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 &#039;s guess and it &#039;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.</p><p>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 &#039;s cost-cutting schemes and attempts to curb rampant inflation.<b> 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.</b>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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