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Message:: [QUOTE="JayAg47, post: 4806563, member: 112342"]Afaik, by the end of the Severan dynasty, the silver content in Roman denari was brought down under 45%, Caracalla even forming a new coin called Antoninianus, and by the time of Gallienus, those coins had only 1-5% silver, while some simply coated with silver. Then, between the late 3rd-early 4th century, they made the short-lived Argenteus similar to the previous denari, and after that, from the mid 4th century to until the end of the empire they made the less common Siliqua, a coin of such a quality signifying the dying throbs of the empire!So, my question is where did all the silver go during the later period? I see tons and tons of bronze follis and so much Aureus in comparison to siliqua (not the same ratio as denarius vs early gold coins). What happened to the denarius/Antoninianus, did they still circulate till the later period or hoarded by people just like how we hoard pre-65 American silver? or even if they melted all of the early silver to make siliqua, that still doesn't equal the amount of siliqua that they produced! or did the emperors simply use almost all of the silver to pay off the invaders? This also begs the question as to why the Byzantine never had a 'mainstream' silver coin (excluding hexagram and other issues which were not as common as denarius), whereas their copper/bronze follis/nummi/Aspron and gold were much common compared to their silver.[/QUOTE]