[Vince Ferrer]

Twenty-one denarii in the late second century represented a substantial sum being roughly one tenth of a ranking auxiliary's gross annual salary and the equivalent of perhaps two or three thousand pounds in today's money.

In other words, the metal held it's value pretty well, even though a multitude of governments have come and gone covering the same spot.

[SunkenCiv]

Hardly — the denarius started out under 7 grams, and as the population grew, the coin shrank to about 3 grams; these are probably 3 to 4 grams each, or 7 or 8 to the ounce. Current price of silver is about $40/oz, so each of these coins has about $5 worth of silver, a total of $105. Of course, during the Hunt brothers corner of the silver market (using money from the shorts to finance the purchase of more silver, so that the shorts were cutting their own throats, a work of diabolical genius until they were exposed and everyone else, including some gov’ts, dumped their holdings) the price was a bit higher than this.

Collector value is more the $5 per coin.

[calex59]

n other words, the metal held it's value pretty well, even though a multitude of governments have come and gone covering the same spot.

I am sorry but you read the article wrong. They are not saying the coins are actually worth 2 or 3 thousand pounds today, they are saying that the value to the soldier at the time he was living would buy for him what 2 or 3 thousand pounds would today. I am sure the coins silver value is way below 2 or 3 thousand pounds. I have no idea what the collector value of them would be.