I was recently involved in a discussion about a small tetrarchic laureate and the question of it's denomination and that then had me searching through my library for two days. I have been looking for a piece of paper connected with, and adding to, an inscription from Aphrodisias that was published in 1971 (Journal of Roman Studies, Erim etc al, "Diocletian's Currency Reform: A New Inscription"). Finally found it! It tells us what the Romans actually called one of their coins and its value in denarii.
The inscription is similar to the Edict of Maximum Prices but, I think, predates it. It pertains to a monetary reform part way through AD 301 that was a stepping stone to the Price Edict.
John Kent of the British Museum knew an additional portion to the fragments published in 1971, one that was un-published as far as I am aware. By supplementing the original inscription fragments with the new piece the text reads "bicharactam pecuniam.........qvae in maiore orbis partec......qvattvor denariorvm", or in other words the "bicharactam pecunia (or coin with two characters/figures on the reverse).. the coin that most of the world knows as a four denarius piece".
This shows that the radiate fraction of the period is not tariffed at five denarii as is often quoted in literature.
This reform of AD 301, documented in the Aphrodisias inscription fragments, coincided with a change in the reverse design of the nummus at Trier where the figure of Genius is replaced by Moneta, possibly a further indication of the monetary reform.
Sadly I do not have a photograph of this fragment, however I do have a hand written note from Dr Kent's presentation, further annotated in the hand of the late John Casey.
