Ancient coins were made from gold, silver, electrum, and copper and itsalloys, bronze or brass. The earliest coins, minted in Asia Minor in themid- to late seventh century B.C., were of naturally-occurring electrum,an alloy of gold and at least 20 per cent silver. They were consistent inweight, implying that they were intended to have a set value, yet theirvalue as bullion varied greatly, since coins of the same weight possesseddifferent ratios of the more precious gold and the less precious silver.These early electrum coins were minted for only about fifty years, and bythe middle of the sixth century they were replaced by coins of silver. Goldcoins did not become common until the time of Philip II, the father of Alexanderthe Great.
Coins of gold and silver are said to be coins of intrinsic value, sincetheir worth usually closely approximated the value of the bullion makingup the coin. The weight of individual coins of the same denomination was,therefore, closely monitored. Not all states followed the same weight standard,but each city-state, especially the more important mints such as Athens,adhered quite strictly to its own standard in minting its coins (see no.30 of 17.19 g.; the standard for thecoin was 17.20 g.). As time passed, however, most weight standards werereduced.
The fineness or purity of the metal used for gold and silver coinages wasalso closely monitored. Throughout Greek and Roman times, gold coins wereconsistently of very high purity, usually more than 95 per cent pure gold.Silver coins were of an equally high purity until the time of the Romanemperor Nero, who lowered the silver content, but only to about 90 per cent.By late Imperial times, however, some "silver" coins containedvery little silver, at times as low as 2.5 per cent.
In most cases, however, coins of precious metal, certainly those of silver,were somewhat overvalued, somewhat lighter than bullion of equal value wouldhave been. Some overvaluation is to be expected simply to cover the costof the minting, but it is also clear that in some cases the state mintedcoins for the purpose of making a profit. The overvaluation of the Atheniandrachm was about 5 per cent; it may have been higher in other states sincecities such as Athens that had their own mineral sources could better affordto keep the overvaluation low.
Coins of copper and its alloys, not common until the later fourth centuryB.C., possessed a value that bore little relation to the value of the metal,and thus, like most modern coins, they are called token or fiduciary coins.These coins were highly overvalued in terms of their metal content and weretherefore much more profitable for the state to produce. Consequently, lesscare was given to the weight of individual copper coins and to the purityof the metal or alloy used.
For the token coinages, the Greeks used mainly bronze, copper alloyed withtin, or simply copper. The Romans used a yellowish alloy of copper and zinc,a type of brass called orichalcum, for the higher token denominations(see nos. 80-81)and the redder copper for the two smallest denominations. Both Greeks andRomans sometimes added lead or used lead bronze, probably because lead madethe blanks somewhat softer and easier to strike. Numismatists label allcopper-alloy coins as bronze (AE).
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