Metallanalysen römischer Sesterzen

Abstract

That the composition of coins changes regularly within short periods is especially clear for the sestertii and dupondii of the Roman empire. As early as 1799 Klaproth published analyses showing that the older pieces contain more zinc than the younger, from almost 20 per cent under Caligula to about 14 per cent under Trajan. During the nineteenth century the body of analyses grew until Bibra could assemble fifty-two from the literature and a further hundred and eleven of his own in 1869, and by about 1900 there were 38 analyses of sestertii and 21 of dupondii. The paper continues that series with new measurements and traces the gradual decline of the zinc content from emperor to emperor.

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Suggested citation

Riederer, Josef: Metallanalysen römischer Sesterzen. In: Jahrbuch für Numismatik und Geldgeschichte 24 (1974), pp. 73–98.

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