Elemental assay of Roman silver and copper coins and associated casting items by XRF

Energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was employed for the determination of chemical element abundances in silver and copper coins and associated casting items of a hoard discovered in an antique minting facility. The precise and accurate results obtained lead to conclusions about material batches used in the casting, and about concentration variation phenomena occurring at the coin surfaces. The validity of the present method was checked by participating in an intercomparison. (author)