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<p>[QUOTE="rrdenarius, post: 4299711, member: 75525"]Interesting post.</p><p>I think Republican Rome did not mint large silver coins because they did not have the silver. The ratio of gold to silver coin weights / denominations were not high as the 25/1 you mention. Based on coin inscriptions, the smallest gold coin was 20 asses and one denarius was 10 asses.</p><p>Rome started as a modest city state and expanded first to incorporate the Italian peninsula and eventually the area around the Mediterranean. At first Rome did not have gold or silver sources (trade or mines) and used bronze metal, land and livestock to measure / store wealth. We know wealth was measured because citizens had to have minimum levels of wealth, expressed in asses, to hold positions in the army. Most transactions were barter or crude bronze metal. Rome's supply of precious metal increased as they defeated others and brought much of their wealth to Rome. </p><p>I think there were two big turning points in RR money: </p><p>1. about 400 BC Rome first payed soldiers</p><p>2. during their wars with Carthage Rome ran out of bronze to make money and war materials. The silver denarius replaced the As.</p><p>During the second war with Carthage, Rome issued the Crawford 44 series of coins, about 211 BC, has both gold and silver coins. These were issued late in the 2nd Carthaginian War. The ratio of gold to silver ratio determined by these coins is 8/1. </p><ul> <li>Cr-44/2, gold 60 asses coin, weight 3.38</li> <li>Cr-44/3, gold 40 asses coin, weight 2.25</li> <li>Cr-44/4, gold 20 asses coin, weight 1.12</li> <li>Cr-44/5, silver 10 asses coin, weight 4.84 Note this is an unusually high weight coin</li> <li>Cr-44/6, silver 5 asses coin, weight 2.14</li> <li>Cr-44/7, silver 2.5 asses coin, weight 1.06</li> </ul><p>coin weights from - </p><p><a href="http://davy.potdevin.free.fr/Site/crawford1.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://davy.potdevin.free.fr/Site/crawford1.html" rel="nofollow">http://davy.potdevin.free.fr/Site/crawford1.html</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="rrdenarius, post: 4299711, member: 75525"]Interesting post. I think Republican Rome did not mint large silver coins because they did not have the silver. The ratio of gold to silver coin weights / denominations were not high as the 25/1 you mention. Based on coin inscriptions, the smallest gold coin was 20 asses and one denarius was 10 asses. Rome started as a modest city state and expanded first to incorporate the Italian peninsula and eventually the area around the Mediterranean. At first Rome did not have gold or silver sources (trade or mines) and used bronze metal, land and livestock to measure / store wealth. We know wealth was measured because citizens had to have minimum levels of wealth, expressed in asses, to hold positions in the army. Most transactions were barter or crude bronze metal. Rome's supply of precious metal increased as they defeated others and brought much of their wealth to Rome. I think there were two big turning points in RR money: 1. about 400 BC Rome first payed soldiers 2. during their wars with Carthage Rome ran out of bronze to make money and war materials. The silver denarius replaced the As. During the second war with Carthage, Rome issued the Crawford 44 series of coins, about 211 BC, has both gold and silver coins. These were issued late in the 2nd Carthaginian War. The ratio of gold to silver ratio determined by these coins is 8/1. [LIST] [*]Cr-44/2, gold 60 asses coin, weight 3.38 [*]Cr-44/3, gold 40 asses coin, weight 2.25 [*]Cr-44/4, gold 20 asses coin, weight 1.12 [*]Cr-44/5, silver 10 asses coin, weight 4.84 Note this is an unusually high weight coin [*]Cr-44/6, silver 5 asses coin, weight 2.14 [*]Cr-44/7, silver 2.5 asses coin, weight 1.06 [/LIST] coin weights from - [URL]http://davy.potdevin.free.fr/Site/crawford1.html[/URL][/QUOTE]
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