I was showing my recent purchase to some friends and they asked me what it was worth. I thought they wanted to know how much I paid for it, but what they meant was, what value did it have during the time it was in circulation. Good question! Is there a reference that covers ancient coins and tells their value during the era they were used in trade? For those who must know, while I don't have any pictures that I have taken, you can look up the coin at NGC. The cert number is 5872602-263.
Shorth answer: Not much. The only question harder to answer is why anyone would pay several times a coin's current value to have it slabbed. Inflation was bad in the time of Valentinian and a century before or after so we might say that coin would buy a loaf of bread but we might have to be vague about where and what kind of bread you meant. We have records on he purchasing power of coins from a few places and times but nothing that can answer the question as easily as we would like. If someone really wants to get answers to a question like this, they might think to provide a link: https://www.ngccoin.com/certlookup/5872602-263/NGCAncients/ Sure, we can do the legwork but should that be our job or the person asking the question?
I think it just varies on era and whether or not that was any kind of social disorder or war. As their economy also suffered or profited from various circumstances. I remember reading a article a while back stating that it was possible for a roman to purchase a loaf of bread with one denarius one year but the following would possibly be 2 or 3.
Check this out. Diocletian's edict on maximum prices merchants could charge. The punishment for violation of the edict was death. Obviously this tells us how bad inflation was around the turn of the 4th century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_on_Maximum_Prices One of four pieces of the edict (in Greek) re-used in the door frame of the medieval church of St. John Chrysostomos in Geraki.
Yes, I would have provided the link, but I'm unable to copy and paste within my tablet. So I gave you the cert number. And a closer reading of my post shows my question wasn't about the coin, but if there was a reference for the value of any ancient coin during the time it was in circulation. I don't think such an inquiry needs a picture.
I apologize for misunderstanding the question. Do you actually think all ancient coins were valued the same when they were issued? Without know what coin was in question, there could be no answer.
Here’s the problem. There’s a variety of denominations, regions, and over a thousand years. A good silver denarius of, say, Commodus or whomever was worth a LOT more, nominally, than a bronze denarius of Aurelian. Add to that the fact that we simply don’t even know what some of these denominations even were! For example, some people use the AE-1,2,3,4 scale to “denominate” late Roman bronzes simply because we don’t know what they’re called. we can *try* to get a value for a specific rulers specific coin, but it’s pretty tough to generalize.
So if I understand you, for any single coin we have no idea what value it might have had in the economy it was issued in. For example, today we know what a dime is worth and how it compares to a quarter. But we don't have any idea when it comes to ancient coins? Not that I was expecting it, but just curious.
Very good, and thanks for your response. It makes sense, I just wondered if anyone had ever thought to research and write about such things. You know, so we could say a silver denarius was the dime of its day.
here's some info on Diocletian’s “Edict of Maximum Prices” issued in A.D. 301 http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/edict/
This picture (sorry for the bad quality) is from the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford). If you zoom in, it has some fun facts on what various coins spanning centuries were worth.
You might say the denarius was the dime of its day but unless you tell us whether you are referring to the good silver denarius of the third century BC, the debased silver of the 3rd century AD or the 'denarius of account' of the 4th century AD (which changed year to year or day to day) saying that makes no more sense than saying the 2020 Roosevent dime is the same as two 1792 half disme models.
1/2 days pay in late Republic (but a denarius 1st c BC had about double he silver as in 2nd c AD). A day's pay for a soldier was worth about $10 in todays terms. We can pretty accurately calculate what a day pay is worth based on evidence of the commodities a soldier would and did buy in ancient times. We know what very basic, bulk-buy volume, wheat, oil, wine, cheese and vegetables, with occasional bits of bacon or whatever, cost today. About $3 to $5 for a day's nutrition. Soldiers were paid more than subsistence (else why do it), and it seems from ancient records, about enough to pay for two or three days supply with 1 day wage (rest left for fun, clothes, barbers laundry etc). So on that basis, a soldier's pay was about $10/ day. Equates to basic incomes of semi skilled jobs in large low tech countries such as India, Brazil or Nigeria today. From that you can work back to todays value of ancient coins. I reckon $20 for a late Republican denarius (when soldiers were paid 183 denarii per year). Probably same value in mid Empire (when they received more denarii but with less silver in each)
I thank everyone for their informative posts. I will post a picture of my own ancient coin as soon as I can get a good one. I'm beginning to learn why they are so interesting!
My post isn't about the buying power of ancient coins, but instead comparing the various denominations with regard to themselves. I made this infographic about the various denominations to help understand the comparison and relation of the different denominations and how they broke down and built up to each other (reminder that this is roughly for the period of ~25 BC to the mid-3rd century AD): There were a number of denominations during the whole of the Roman Empire and with as much changes in valuation of coinage, there was equal changes with "new" denominations being introduced and phased out over time as needs, values, silver availability, and imperial coffers changed (click to zoom in)... I have to say, that this isn't even all encompassing and would be a much larger project to make it so than an afternoon free: Can you find your Valentinian I AE3 (circa 364-375 AD)? I like these little bronze coins of the period and have a little collection of the SALVS REIPVBLICAE AE4 type of various contemporary emperors: Arcadius, Theodosius I, Valentinian II (and I might have an Honorius in there too...? I didn't check). Some have a tau-rho, some a cross. Being a designer, I like the visual/graphic-ness of them. Specifically, my fave is the Arcadius, top row, third from the left... The sandy "patina" contrasting the black tone, and "big" graphic font. And it has nice detail and strike for the type. I'm excited for your budding interest!!
