Electrum...The True Gold of the Ancient Greek and Roman's!

[ashley-migration]

 

Hello!

My name is Ashley and today is my very first day with this Forum! I am excited to proclaim what I have found concerning my ancient Gold Greek and Roman coins. Perhaps, in the future Electrum coins will get the reconiztion they truly deserve and future coin book will contain a catagory for Electrum coins...the true Gold of the ancient peoples:acclaim:

 

Defination of Electrum

Electrum is Gold found in the ancient rivers and streams which is bonded with Silver; it has a light yellow or/and amber color to it. Since the ancient people did not have the proccess to unbond the Gold and Silver, coins made from the Electrum were sold to the public as Gold coins.

 

Today we take for granted the extremly high volume of all kinds alloys(metals) we have access to, however in ancient times metals were very hard to obtain and digging deep for them was impossible. The ancient Greek and Romans would mainly rely on rivers and streams to provide their precious Gold. When you find Gold in rivers and streams the Gold is bonded with Silver. In the ancient world pure Gold did not exist! Today you can find plenty of 'so called' ancient Gold coins which are nearly pure Gold...however...ancient peoples had no way to remove the Silver and other alloys which were bonded with the Gold....Ancient Gold Coins were light yellow or amber...not the extra strong yellow the 'so called' ancient Gold coins dealers sell today!

 

When I think of ancient Greece and Rome I see thousands running to the rivers and streams and using their pans to look for Gold...just as the first settlers to America did. Of course, after hundreds of years of doing this fewer and fewer ancient people found Electrum(Gold bonded with Silver) in the rivers and streams...today you can not find Gold in the rivers and streams of Europe.

 

Today, when the collectors look for the ancient Gold coins of the ancient world they look for pure Gold and not Electrum! Pure Gold coins did not exist in the ancient world, but we find a sizable amound of Electrum coins. However, these coins are misrepresened as AR Denarius(Silver) or/and even worse AR Antoninianus, which contains Bronze not Gold...this is a tragic error!!

 

We need to correct our thinking of how Gold and Silver was found in the ancient world and reconize that the ancient people created great quantities of Electrum coins and these coins need to be reconized for what they truly are. True AR Antoninianus coins have a reddish/pinkish tone, where as Electrum coins have a light yellow/amber color to them...and Electrum truly contains Gold...in various amounts.

 

I have a few of these ancient Electrum(Gold bonded with Silver) coins, however to prove that they are truly made of Gold I will have to take them to a jeweler to be tested...testing is not good because it leaves a permanent mark on the coins, which hurts it's value and beauty. However, coins made with Bronze are very easy to reconize, which are mainly copper, have a reddish/pinkish tone. I should not have to test my coins because they are easily reconized for their light yellow/amber color, but since Electrum is not officially reconized the only way to prove my coins are Gold is to deface them with test marks!

 

If you look at the first gold coins ever produced they have an amber(light yellow) color to them and since the Silver could not be removed from the coins they were considered Gold coins in the ancient world, which remained true through the beginning and end of the Roman Empire.

 

Coins with Holes

Most of the ancient Electrum coins have holes at the center. At first I believed these holes were from erosion, however...too many of these ancient coins have holes at the very center and some have several holes near and at the center of the coins. I believe the ancient Roman's made these holes as some kind of method to verify that the ancient Gold coins actually contained Gold.

 

Rome's Downfall

I believe there were many reason for Rome's downfall, but one reason I have not heard could have been from the foundation in which Rome was founded...It's Gold/Electrum! The Greek's and Roman's were hiding so much of their Gold/Electrum that the suppliers for their Gold/Electrum could not keep up! Rome was simply running out of Gold/Electrum! Rome had huge numbers of slaves to dig for Gold/Electrum, however those slaves were probably made to look for the precious alloy with their hands, which made it impossible to bury down deep into the bedrock for the precious alloy. Rome simply was broke and had taken so much from others there was no more to take! But the ancient Roman people were the actual problem...they buried too much of their Gold/Electrum...instead of spending it and keeping the cycle going. If the ancient Roman people had spent half of what they buried today we could all be Roman's!

 

Thank you for taking the time to read some of my finding and observations concerning the ancient Greek's and Roman's and their Gold/Electrum.

 

Sincerly, Ashley A. Howell

[shirohniichan]

Electrumifying reading!

 

Coins with Holes

Most of the ancient Electrum coins have holes at the center. At first I believed these holes were from erosion, however...too many of these ancient coins have holes at the very center and some have several holes near and at the center of the coins. I believe the ancient Roman's made these holes as some kind of method to verify that the ancient Gold coins actually contained Gold.

 

Another kind of test mark you will see on ancient coins are small circles, stars, or "C" shaped marks punched onto coins to test if they were plated.

 

I would love to get an ancient Lystrian electrum coin (i.e. one of the very first "coins" ever made).

[ashley-migration]

Thanks for the post!

I could not find a Lycia Electrum, however I found an even earlier Electrum coin from Ionia 650BC to 600(about 300 years earlier) for sale at:

 

http://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?vpar=610&pos=6