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I want to return to something that at I've posted about before and that is what the Romans actually called their coins. The names we refer to them today are often a modern construct, yet we refer to them as if it is solid fact.
Today I want to consider the FEL TEMP REPARATIO coins instigated in AD 348.
The coin legend type was introduced, probably, in AD 348. It was initially produced in three sizes/denominations, the largest marked A contained c. 2.5% silver. The next size smaller, marked N, had a smaller proportion of silver, c. 1.5%, and the smallest unmarked pieces no detectable silver. It soon ended up as only a single denomination of reducing size and was eventually ceased around AD 359.
Modern collectors often group all the issues under the single heading of "cententionales", but this appears to be misguided given the documentary evidence available.
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There is the law, posted on 12th February 349 AD (Codex Theodosius IX.21.6):
"We have learned that some metalworkers [flatuarii] purify the maiorina coins [maiorina pecunia] frequently and criminally, by separating the silver from the bronze. If any persons hereafter should be caught in this operation, let him know that he has committed a capital crime, and also those who own the house or land are to be punished by the delivery of their property to the largitiones [imperial largesses]."
It would thus appear from this edict that the Romans referred to the largest of the Fel Temp Reparatio pieces, that contained at lest a small proportion of silver, as a maiorina.
