Ancients
Caracalla (AD 198-217). AR antoninianus (21mm, 8.99 gm, 1h). Choice AU. Rome, AD 215. ANTONINVS PIVS AVG GERM, radiate, draped bust of Caracalla right, seen from behind / P M TR P XVIIII COS IIII P P, Jupiter standing right, holding thunderbolt and scepter. RIC IV.I 258a.
From the Morris Collection.
Caracalla introduced a new silver coin, apparently intended to circulate as a two-denarius piece, in AD 213-214. Now called the antoninianus (after Caracalla's official name of Antoninus), it always depicted the emperor wearing a radiate crown, traditional visual shorthand for indicating a coin was worth two (or half) of some other denomination. Apparently intended to stretch the treasury's dwindling silver supplies, the new coin was inherently inflationary and evidently unpopular, as it was equivalent in weight to only one and a half denarii. Although the initial issue of antoniniani was discontinued after about AD 218, it was reintroduced during the crisis year of AD 238 and soon drove the venerable denarius out of circulation.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 100-200 USD