How common was ownership of silver coins?

[Jay GT4]

When I was in Pompeii last year I was amazed at how different it was from Rome.  The streets are in a grid pattern compared to Romes chaotic streets and many of the houses were richly decorated.  Vaulted ceilings, mosaics, paintings, indoor plumbing.  While certainly Rome had all of these things, I think it is fair to say that the majority of people in the bay of Naples were well off.  I believe Cicero had more than one place in this area along with other senators.

I've read in many different historical books that most gold coins were stashed away and not widely circulated.  

[Tiathena]

 
   Right – as Peter has answered of course, Harl doesn’t mention the number of coins in total, he gives only %’s.
  He does include also however, a further breakdown of those recovered at Pompeii, Minturnae Camulodunum, Moguntiacum and at Haltern.
 
  For Pompeii, he states:*
 
   Aureus – 4%
   Denarius – 48%
   Sestertius – 9%
   Dupondius – ( none )
   As – 27%
   Semis – ( none )
   Quadrans – 11%
   Non-Roman – 1%
 
   Of the five cities thus ‘charted,’ Pompeii is significantly distinctive in the high number of denarii found: 1%, 3%, 4% and 5% for the other four cities respectively, with considerably greater number of Asses for the latter four as well.
 
   Thank you for the mention & reference to A. Burnett’s work, Peter.  Not available at Amazon, but looks like one could perhaps still get a copy from Spink and Son Ltd. (?).
  Perhaps I’ll try when I’ve finished Harl’s – and another stack I have here waiting.
 
  Best,
  Tia
 

[PeterD]

 
      Thank you for the mention & reference to A. Burnett’s work, Peter.  Not available at Amazon, but looks like one could perhaps still get a copy from Spink and Son Ltd. (?).
  Perhaps I’ll try when I’ve finished Harl’s – and another stack I have here waiting.
 
  Best,
  Tia
 

Take a look at item 330035975793 at you know where. 38 available!

[Tiathena]

 
   Ah-ha!
  Much & many thanks, Peter.
 
  I did a search there too, and it drew a blank… ( - ? - )
  Tried again now, and still no returns.
  But very good – thank you.
 
   Best,
   Tia
 

[Jay GT4]

Thought this was interesting....found it in Suetonius.  Speaking about Augustus' will

"He also left a bequest of 400 000 gold pieces to the Roman commons in general; 35 000 to the two tribes with which he had family connections; 10 to every Praetorian guardsman; 5 to every member of the city cohorts; 3 to every legionary soldier."

Then Suetonius quotes directly from the will:

"My heirs will not receive more than 1 million 5 hundred thousand gold pieces; for, although my friends have bequeathed me some 14 million in the last 20 years  nearly the whole of this sum, besides what came to me from my father, and others has been used for the benefit of the State"

It appears then that there was quite a good number of gold coins around by the end of Augustus' reign.

[Heliodromus]

"My heirs will not receive more than 1 million 5 hundred thousand gold pieces; for, although my friends have bequeathed me some 14 million in the last 20 years  nearly the whole of this sum, besides what came to me from my father, and others has been used for the benefit of the State"

Interesting...

Coin Archives shows a Trajan aureus at 7.25g, and world spot price of gold is currently $20.97/g, so...

14M aurei = 101 metric tons of gold = $2.1 billion dollars! His 1.5M aurei bequest would be about $225M.

These numbers would put him among the top dozen wealthiest heads of state today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_heads_of_government_and_state_by_net_worth

Interesting how wealth in gold at this level doesn't seem to have changed so much over the years.

Ben

[PeterD]

The direct translation of Suetonius at
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus*.html
gives these sums of money in sestertii so clearly it is values he is talking about rather than specific coins. That doesn't mean that they might not have been paid in gold of course.

[Jay GT4]

The direct translation of Suetonius at
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus*.html
gives these sums of money in sestertii so clearly it is values he is talking about rather than specific coins. That doesn't mean that they might not have been paid in gold of course.

When I click that link it doesn't bring me to a Suetonius page and I can't find a link on the home page.   I wanted to see the literal translation from Latin.

[jarnait]

Try this?

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/home.html

[Jay GT4]

Thank you that link worked.  Interesting that the latin has the amount in Sestertti and my english translation (Robert Graves) has it in Gold.    What I find interesting is that Augustus says he has all of this cash "on hand"!  This is amazing when you contemplate the sheer amount of coin that must have been centered in Rome, because not only do you have the Emperor but all the senators, Patricians and Eques not to mention the plebs.  Talk about spare change!

[Heliodromus]

This is amazing when you contemplate the sheer amount of coin that must have been centered in Rome

Certainly a huge amout of money, but another interesting way to look at it is the physical volume involved.

The 1.5M aurei Augustus actually had on hand, if we assume is was held in gold (sestertii were used as an accounting unit, so use of them doesn't imply those were the coins involved) would be about 10.8 metric tons of gold, but gold is incredibly dense, weighing 19.3 tons per cubic metre, so this quantity of gold is "only" a half cubic meter (consider a pile about 3x3 feet square and 2 feet tall). Of course the volume would be larger if held in coin because of the gaps inbetween, although it's also possible that some was held in bullion.

Ben