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Roman Empire: bronze antoninianus of Aurelian (ca. 270-275 AD); Sol w/globe
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<p>[QUOTE="dougsmit, post: 4729664, member: 19463"]The coin is clearly marked XXI for one part silver and 20 parts alloy metal (mostly copper). Modern people would give a percentage like 90% (9/10) silver but had the ancients made Morgan dollars, they would have considered them 9+1. As a result we would translate XXI as 1/21 or 4.7% Assay report I have seen say this is correct. If you wish to round it off just say a bit under 5%. This is the alloy of the coin interior even if the micro thin silver wash is gone. Our eyes don't see that little silver but that is why they 'advertised' it being there with the silver wash and the XXI (some mints used Greek KA which is 20 and 1). There are a very few coins that test to twice as much silver and are marked XI (or IA if Greek numeraled). My example is the common Tacitus with XI (the few others are rare). Aurelian introduced the concept of alloy marking after the 'problem' he had with the Rome mint workers skimming metal and producing poor coins. Coins before that time used letters in exergue or field to indicate workshops but Aurelian originated the alloy mark which continued into the early folles of Diocletian's reform at a few mints. </p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicissimus" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicissimus" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicissimus</a></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1157992[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>You may read older works that promote the outdated theory that the XXI meant something else. Don't believe everything you read.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="dougsmit, post: 4729664, member: 19463"]The coin is clearly marked XXI for one part silver and 20 parts alloy metal (mostly copper). Modern people would give a percentage like 90% (9/10) silver but had the ancients made Morgan dollars, they would have considered them 9+1. As a result we would translate XXI as 1/21 or 4.7% Assay report I have seen say this is correct. If you wish to round it off just say a bit under 5%. This is the alloy of the coin interior even if the micro thin silver wash is gone. Our eyes don't see that little silver but that is why they 'advertised' it being there with the silver wash and the XXI (some mints used Greek KA which is 20 and 1). There are a very few coins that test to twice as much silver and are marked XI (or IA if Greek numeraled). My example is the common Tacitus with XI (the few others are rare). Aurelian introduced the concept of alloy marking after the 'problem' he had with the Rome mint workers skimming metal and producing poor coins. Coins before that time used letters in exergue or field to indicate workshops but Aurelian originated the alloy mark which continued into the early folles of Diocletian's reform at a few mints. [URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicissimus[/URL] [ATTACH=full]1157992[/ATTACH] You may read older works that promote the outdated theory that the XXI meant something else. Don't believe everything you read.[/QUOTE]
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