I purchased what appears to be a typical Byzantine solidus of Justinian I. Nothing unusual about its image, inscriptions or its appearance except that it appears to have been struck in silver. The coin shop owner, who is not well versed in ancients, had it listed as an ancient copy. Maybe. I apologize for my inability to post any pix. just imagine a Justinian solidus in silver, with some apparent wear. It rings like a bell when dropped and weighs in at 2.5 grams. Of course I am not asking for opinions about its worth or authenticity just whether or not the Byzantines ever issued a solidus appearing coin in silver as an emergency issue or for use among barbarians. Its inscriptions are clear, crisp and accurate so it does not look like a barbarian copy. Thanks for any information.
Sounds fascinating. I have some Byzantine coins, mostly folles of Justinian through Heraclius, but have never heard of a solidus being struck in silver.
Don't test ancient and medieval coins this way. Many are crystalline and brittle and can shatter if dropped on a hard surface. Because of this, there are plenty of coins that will not ring but will instead have a dull thud. You can't always see evidence of this on the outside of the coin either. That said, it may have been a fouree. Gold sticks to silver considerably better than bronze or lead and gold-plated-silver fourees are known.
Some siliquas made in Ravenna are of silver. - But i do not know if there are siliquas of 2,5 gram. - Otherwise it might be a fouree as mentioned.
It is posible that all gold may vanish from the surface of the coin. - Doug, a member here, does have a weird fouree of Solidus with only silver.
Not actually. Mine is later than Justinian by quite a bit and has a lot of remaining gold. Gold sticks to silver very well so getting it all off would seem hard. I was not mentioning my coin here in fear of confusing the matter. In truth, I do not see how we are to be of any help unless we have a photo. We do not require a prize winning image but it might be possible to see something in a typically poor one. If, in fact, you can find no way of providing an image, you need to show the coin to ancient specialty dealers at a show of find a coin club. There, perhaps you can find someone able to make an image if not a Byzantine expert who might have an opinion. You could even send it off for a certificate. These days it seems hard to participate in the online hobby without some form of imaging. We have a few members here who do but they miss out on a lot. One answer is buying coins that come with images. Another is paying a kid with a camera. I would love to see this item but my current best, totally uninformed guess would have to be that the coin is a modern replica.
