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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 3556389, member: 19463&quot;]I maintain that the pinning of blame on Septimius overlooks what happened to the denarius in the final years of Commodus (or is it just the ones in my collection???) and is caused by meaningless statistics where all coins of one reign are taken as a group.&nbsp; Debasement did not start in 200 but back in the time of Nero. </p><p><br /></p><p>One effect of the way this was done (silver removed from dimes and quarters all at once but halves taking the 40% intermediate step) was the destruction of the half dollar as a circulating coin.&nbsp; When I was a kid, halves were a main coin of commerce.&nbsp; People did not use 2 quarters as done today. Most kids today have never seen a half and teen clerks at Taco Bell don&#039;t know what to do with one since there is no place for them in the register.&nbsp; Some blame the death of the half on it having JFK&#039;s picture on it (and that argument has some strength) but I wonder if the half would still be in use had the 40% step not been taken.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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