Philip I the Arab | AE As

Reference: RIC IV 186
Date: 244-249 CE
Obverse: IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG; bust of Philip the Arab, laureate, draped, cuirassed, right
Reverse: SALVS AVG S C: Salus, draped, standing right, feeding snake held in both arms
Mint: Rome
Size: 23.3 mm
Weight: 9.56 grams

SCARCE DENOMINATION. Ex Harlan J Berk. A decent example of a middle bronze struck during the mid-third century CE. By this point in time, the imperial monetary debasement crisis was in full swing and the "silver" coinage was rapidly becoming mostly bronze in composition. As the silver currency became devalued and inflation decreased its purchasing power, the imperial bronze coinage became increasingly obsolete. By the reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, the as was no longer being struck in any significant quantity. Even the sestertius would largely disappear by the end of Gallienus' reign. Aurelian attempted to revive the bronze coinage during his 274 CE monetary reform, but because the underlying economic forces (inflation and devalued silver currency) remained, his reform sestertii (often wrongfully attributed as assēs due to their reduced weight) did not remain in significant production past his death in 275 CE. Surface roughness.

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