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AN ANALYSIS OF SOME THIRD‐CENTURY ROMAN COINS FOR SURFACE SILVERING AND SILVER PERCENTAGE OF THEIR ALLOY CONTENT
Author(s) -
KING C. E.,
HEDGES R. E. M.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
archaeometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1475-4754
pISSN - 0003-813X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4754.1974.tb00104.x
Subject(s) - alloy , bronze , metallurgy , chemistry , materials science
The silver content within the body and at the surface of 22 Roman ‘bronze’coins dating to a.d. 274–305 was determined by X‐ray fluorescence to discover whether these coins were silver dipped and/or issued with a deliberately added amount of silver in their alloy. Results of this analysis indicate that antoniniani and fractional coins of the period 274–294 were probably both silver dipped and minted in an argentiferous alloy. Radiate and laureate fractions issued after 295 do not seem to have had an argentiferous alloy, nor does this analysis provide any evidence that they were silverdipped.