Roman Majorina

"Majorina" (plural: majorinae) is a Latin adjective which means "of the larger sort" or "of a larger form", and is applied to the largest bronze (actually low-grade billon: 2.5-3% silver) coins produced by the 348 coinage reform of Constans and Constantius II. Those coins were actually referred to in Roman documents which demonetized them as "pecuniae maiorinae" ("money of the largest size").

They first appeared in the spring of 348 and thus were coincident with the 1100th anniversary of the city of Rome. Initially they were 22-23 millimeters in diameter and weighed about 5.20 grams, being composed of a base billon of about 2.5-3% silver. The original reverse legend was "FEL TEMP REPARATIO", short for "Felicitas Temporum Reparatio", which is roughly translated as "The happiness of the times restored" (the fourth century version of "Happy days are here again!"). The original reverse designs were the the "galley" and "falling horseman" types, although the "emperor holding victory and labarum and spurning captive" was added about 351. Magnentius (q.v. - who had overthrown Constans in 350) and Vetranio added several types (including Vetranio's famous "HOC SIGNO VICTOR ERIS" type alluding to Constantine I's vision before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge).

Two fractional denominations were issued at the same time, the larger of which has not been given a specific modern name, but since it is about 80% of the weight of the majorina and about 21 mms in diameter it is usually called a "small majorina" (it was apparently struck at 72 to the Roman pound, versus the 60 to the Roman pound at which the majorina was probably intended to be struck).  Both coins are sometimes referred to by the generic term "Ae 2" which in modern usage means any essentially bronze coin between about 18 and 21 mms in diameter. The reverse designs incorporated the "FEL TEMP REPARATIO" legend and were originally of the "hut" and "emperor and two captives" designs, although the "emperor riding down two enemies" was added about 350.  During its brief existence, the "small majorina" was distinguished from the full majorina by having a left-facing bust.

The second fraction is usually referred to as a half-majorina, since at about 2.45 gms and 17-18 mms it was probably intended to be struck at 120 to the Roman pound, or half of the full majorina. Its earliest design incorporated a phoenix on the reverse, either on a globe or a cairn (the western mints of Constans also employed the "galley" reverse). Its size has sometimes caused it to be referred to as simply an "Ae 3" (q.v.), the generic modern term for any essentially bronze coin between about 14 and 18 mms in diameter.

The small majorina only had about 1.2% silver content and the half-majorina only had about 0.3% (contrasted with the majorina's content of nearly 3%). A silver content of less than about 1% in any ancient Roman coin is usually considered to be unintentional, simply the result of impurities left in the ancient refining process. As a result it is a matter of debate as to whether or not the small majorina was intended to be a billon coin, but the half-majorina was clearly intended to be simply bronze.

The fractions had a very short life, as the "small majorina" ceased to be struck by sometime in 350 and the half lingered only into 351.

The majorina declined in weight in late 351 to about 4.70 grams, and still further to about 4.3 grams by 352, and by then all of the designs except the "falling horseman" were discontinued by Constantius II, although Magnentius still continued several designs. About 354 the weight fell again to about 2.50 grams and it became indistinguishable from the earlier halves except for its design (falling horseman vs. the phoenix or galley).

Unfortunately the silver content of the early full majorinae was too small to be apparent to the eye, and enterprising forgers soon made a business of melting them, extracting the silver, and re-striking them from the remaining bronze. Constantius II and Magnentius tried to deal with that by decreasing the silver content of the majorinae to less than 1% sometime about 352, along with reducing the weight as noted above. Even that failed to solve the problem and in 354 Constantius II (Magnentius having met his doom in 353) put the forgers out of business by taking the drastic step of de-monetizing all previous billon issues, and produced only the bronze coins of about 2.5 grams (Did this also put the Roman government in the silver reclaiming business?  The silver of the late 350's is the most common of fourth and fifth century Roman silver.).

After 354 the small bronze coins are now referred to exclusively as "Ae 3's", and thus the name "majorina" disappears.