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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Sallent, post: 2969443, member: 76194&quot;]Production was definitely much higher than that. If you are only making 7,500 coins a day in the year 370 CE, and you are the Eastern Emperor, no way could you afford to pay the standing army of 104,000, plus around 200,000 border guards (limitanei), and a few thousand sailors, plus over 3000 imperial guards.&nbsp; All these soldiers would require at least one coin each per day. Not to mention other Imperial expenses that would have required coinage. You would need at least 350,000 coins a day on hand to keep up with army pay. Maybe taxes will cover some of that, plus soldiers will spend most of the money and put it back&nbsp; into the economy, but you&#039;d need&nbsp; backup supply in case of shortfalls...especially when soldiers are on campaign and not spending as much money in the local economy. And you better have backup coinage for those situations, as soldiers don&#039;t like to go without pay for any period of time. </p><p><br /></p><p>Plus an economy with 7 million citizens also required a certain amount of coins in daily circulation (at least 100,000,000 coins would ensure the average citizen had at least 10 coins in his pocket or at home, and it would leave ample coinage for the small upper classes to amass great wealth.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Yes, coins last a long time once struck and recirculate all over the economy, but coins get lost or worn, and a certain amount of the millions of coins already&nbsp; in circulation are constantly needing to be replaced. Plus&nbsp; certain amount of new coinage must enter circulation on top of that to keep up with economic demand as well as new state projects. I have a feeling you&#039;d need at least 5,000,000 new coins a year just for the Eastern Empire alone. That&#039;s a little over double your 7,500 coins a day estimate.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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