Overstriking on Roman coinage during the 3rd century AD: an overview

• Autores: Johan van Heesch
• Localización: Revue belge de numismatique et de sigillographie, ISSN 0774-5885, Nº. 164, 2018, págs. 218-234
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • In rare instances during the 3rd century AD, some Roman mints overstruck higher denominations on lower ones (antoniniani on denarii, double sestertii on sestertii). This happened during the reigns of Trajan Decius, Postumus and Regalian. It looks as if the mint officials were looking for profit by doubling the purchasing power of their coins without producing new ones with a higher intrinsic value. But was this really worthwhile doing and was this what really happened? It will be argued that in most cases the metal value of the coins in the 3rd century was to a certain degree of secondary importance and that as long as the coins looked as made of ‘good’ silver, they were probably accepted at their official value. This explains why surviving coins of a given type, even with little or no wear, show an impressively broad range of weights.