If the seventh century saw the final end of the economic structure of late antiquity in the west, it also saw the beginnings of a new economic structure. The silver penny, or denier, the minting of which began in this period, was, for over five centuries, not merely the characteristic coin of western Europe, but virtually the only coin in use.

The silver denarius of the late seventh century was modelled so exactly on the old triens, that they can sometimes only be distinguished from one another by the metal in which they were struck. Both were small coins, smaller than a modern British halfpenny or American cent. They were only a centimetre or a very little more in diameter, but relatively thick for their breadth. The same monetarii were responsible for their minting, and since the same die-cutters supplied them with dies for both, the strong similarity between them is not surprising. The Roman name ‘denarius’ was consciously revived for the new silver coins and, in order to distinguish them from the base-gold trientes, some of the earliest ones were inscribed with their denomination for a short period, lvgdvno dinarios or dinario avrilai at Lyons and Orléans for example. In the same way, after a twentieth-century change, the new denominations in Britain were, for a few years, inscribed ‘New Pence’ until the public became accustomed to them. In the early eighth century the denomination name disappeared and their types were reduced almost entirely to legends and monograms.