Follis


The follis was a type of coin in the Roman and Byzantine traditions.

Roman coin

In the past the word 'follis' was used to describe a large bronze Roman coin introduced in about 294
at the time of the coinage reform of Diocletian. It weighed about 10 grams and was about 4% silver, mostly as a thin layer on the surface. However, later studies have shown that this is wrong, and that this coin may have been known as a 'nummus'. The word follis means bag in Latin, and there is evidence that this term was used in antiquity for a sealed bag containing a specific amount of coinage. It has also been suggested that the coin was named Follis because of the ancient Greek word "φολίς" meaning a thin layer of metal which covers the surface of various objects, since originally, this coin had a thin layer of silver on top. The 'follis' of Diocletian, despite efforts to enforce prices with the Edict on Maximum Prices, was revalued and reduced as time passed. By the time of Constantine, it was smaller and barely contained any silver. A series of Constantinian bronzes was introduced in the mid-4th century, although the specific denominations are unclear and debated by historians and numismatists. They are referred to as AE1, AE2, AE3 and AE4, with the former being the largest and the latter the smallest in diameter. Namely:
AE1AE2AE3AE4
over 25 mm21 – 25 mm17 – 21 mmunder 17 mm

Fourth century folles represent the largest category of coin finds in the United Kingdom.

Byzantine coin

The follis was reintroduced as a large bronze coin in 498, with the coinage reform of Anastasius, which included a series of bronze denominations with their values marked in Greek numerals. A 40 nummi coin of Anastasius is depicted on the obverse of the Macedonian 50 denars banknote, issued in 1996.
The fals was a bronze coin issued by the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates beginning in the late 8th century, initially as imitations of the Byzantine follis.