Definición

• The original meaning of this word was a purse, or a bag containing money Juven. (xiv. 281). After the monetary reform of Constantine the Great this term was employed alongside of the older sesterces (which soon disappeared) in accounts, i.e., so many bags of gold (follis auri), of silver (follis argentei), or of copper (follis and denarismum, follis denariorum, or follis acris). The use of this term was commonest for sums in bronze, and soon the name follis was transferred to the actual coin once contained in the follis or purse. Certain decrees of Constantine view to establishing a decimal system in the coinage. The piece was greatly objected to, on account of the omission of the letters D. G., or Dei Gratia , in the legend, and it received the name of the Godless, or graceless, Florin. Three quarters of a million were struck, all dated 1849. The next issue, in which the omission was remedied, appeared in 1851, and is a broader and thinner coin. The Florin of Edward VII, issued in 1902, shows the figure of Britannia standing on the prow of a vessel, her right hand holding a trident and her left resting on a shield. the Great and his immediate successors al- ready nse follis as the name of a bronze coin the nu minus ccntcnionalis.

  In the Byzantine Empire, from the time of Anastasius, the name follis seems to have been applied to the large copper pieces of forty nummi first issued by that Emperor.

  Its divisions were indicated by Greek letters, as follows:

  M = 1 Follis, or 40 Nummi

  A = 3/4 Follis, or 30 Numml

  K = 1/2 Follis, or 20 Nuniini

  I = 1/4 Follis. or 10 Nummi (also called Dekanummion)

  E = 1/8 Follis, or 5 Nummi (also called Pentanummion)

  Later, the name came to be used for a copper coin in general and was adopted by the Arabs as Fels, pi. Falus. See Babe- Ion, Traite (i. 761-771).

Fuente

• Frey's Dictionary (American Journal of Numismatics, Vol. 50, 1916)

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