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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 3667026, member: 19463&quot;]The Romans did not need a word for zinc since they did not isolate the element as a metal.&nbsp; What they knew was that if you heated copper with a certain salt the copper became yellow, harder and better for many purposes.&nbsp; They had a word for that as gsimonel pointed out - orichalcum.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Traditionally, numismatists use the word &#039;bronze&#039; for any alloy that is substantially copper including pure copper, orichalcum, leaded bronze and what we today call pot metal with a lot of copper in it.&nbsp; There are times when there are two different alloys used with purpose and times where it seemed they used whatever fell in the pot.&nbsp; This is especially true when you consider how many old coins were melted to make new ones.&nbsp; Exactly where you draw the line is of greater interest to people who study metal than to people who collect coins.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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