After a
cross over period the old
money was no longer legal tender. These coins were illegally concaved to pass as trachea, I have a
follis or two that was cut to
tetarteron size just to pass as legal currency.
The
follis was the equivalent to a cosmopolitan
tetarteron ( small silver content 2-4%) , that exchange around 3 or 4 to one billion
trachy. The billion
trachy only
had up to 8% silver in it and most of that disappeared as it began to circulate, it would have been difficult to tell the difference of the imitation vs a circulated billion
trachy ( At a glance.).
The billion
trachy also only circulated i the city and
Asia minor , not
Greece so depending on where the original owner was it determined why he chose to imitate a
trachy. He was also increasing the value of
his coin.
Simon