Coin (obverse), Denarius, of Claudius

This silver-plated coin was minted in Rome by the emperor Claudius in 50 or 51 AD. It is a type called a denarius, the most common Roman silver coin. This picture shows the obverse of the coin.

The obverse has the head of the emperor wearing a laurel wreath, facing to the right. The legend 'TI CLAVD CAESAR AVG P M TR P X IMP P P' (with a bar over the X) abbreviates the names and some of the titles of Claudius. Damage on this side has revealed the base metal core in places.

Many plated coins circulated in the early Empire as they had in the Republic. Some are irregular in design, but others would pass for true silver denarii. Most were probably forgeries. During the reign of Claudius they are particularly common, suggesting that supervision of dies was less vigilant during his reign.

The Roman currency system included the denarius (plural: denarii), a small silver coin, as the most common coin in circulation. Classical historians regularly say that in the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire the daily wage for a laborer was one denarius. The denarius was first struck in 211 BC during the Roman Republic, valued at 10 asses, giving the denarius its name which translates to "containing ten". In 118 BC it was re-tariffed at 16 asses, to reflect the decrease in size of the As. The As was a bronze or copper coin. The denarius continued to be the main coin of the empire until it was replaced by the antoninianus in the middle of the 3rd century AD.

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