How Much Silver Is In A Drachm? - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 5 / Views: 1,339
Spider5689 Pillar of the Community United States 2269 Posts	Posted 09/09/2012 02:10 am A while ago I purchased a silver Antoninus Pius Drachm. It's a beautiful coin and it didn't cost me a lot of money, (sixty dollars to be exact). While I was organizing my collection of Antoninus Pius coins today, I thought about how much silver is actually in a Drachm, specifically my Antoninus Pius. I have read numerous articles over the years about how Rome debased the Denarius, but I was unable to find any information regarding the debasement of the Drachm. I was wondering if anyone here may know if the Drachm was debased over time and approximately how much silver an Antoninus Pius Drachm from 139 A.D. acutally contains? Thank you for your help. Christopher Report this Post to the Staff

mdpmedia Pillar of the Community United States 3546 Posts	Posted 09/09/2012 03:13 am Spider, I do not know if you have ever gone to http://www.ngccoin.com/poplookup/Wo...e-Guide.aspx but NGC seems to do a decent job of providing daily updated coin prices containing a % breakdown of the silver amount and the corresponding $ value based upon current spot silver and gold prices etc. Please try out this site out if you want and then respond to this CCF thread including the NGC URL containing your featured coin showing the silver value you were initially looking for. fyi, mdpmedia Report this Post to the Staff
Spider5689 Pillar of the Community United States 2269 Posts	Posted 09/09/2012 04:01 am Thanks mdpmedia, I first tried to search the site with the word drachma, but came up with no results. Then I tried to pick a country, but I was unable to find any listing for either Rome or anything that has to do with ancient coinage. It seems like it would be a good site for modern coinage. Report this Post to the Staff
Sap Moderator Australia 16867 Posts	Posted 09/09/2012 07:41 am I assume you're talking about the Cappadocian drachm in the "Roman provincial" silver coin series? The only hits searching the Wildwinds Antoninus Pius page for "drachm" were from Egypt and Cappadocia, and the Egyptian ones are solid bronze (no silver at all). According to my copy of Sydenham's "The Coinage of Caesarea in Cappadocia" (1978 reprint of the 1933 work), the drachms of Caesarea-in-Cappadocia were intended to be struck to the same weight and fineness standard as the Imperial denarius; for all intents and purposes, for that series, the two words are interchangeable. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis Report this Post to the Staff
sel_69l Bedrock of the Community Australia 21788 Posts	Posted 09/09/2012 11:24 am A 'Drachm' can mean many different silver coins across a range of different ancient cultures. Typically, very approximately, 3 1/2 grammes. Report this Post to the Staff
Spider5689 Pillar of the Community United States 2269 Posts	Posted 09/09/2012 12:20 pm I neglected to mention that it was a Cappadocian Drachm. Thank you Sap for clarifying that for me. I guess it would be safe to assume that when Nero first debased the Denarius, the Drachm soon followed. Report this Post to the Staff
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