Canterbury Roman Museum … gold coins and silver ingots

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by calcol, Sep 24, 2025 at 6:56 AM.

  1. calcol

    calcol Supporter! Supporter

    Was in the museum a few days ago. Spotted some Celtic gold coins. Can read the description in the picture. There were also some Roman silver ingots, 4th century AD, some with hallmarks. Discovered in 1962. Ingots would probably be melted and poured into planchet molds. Then coins would be struck and used to pay the army.

    Mike

    Canterbury_Roman_Museum_gold_coiins_lo_res.jpg
    Canterbury_Roman_Museum_Roman_silver_ingots_4th_century_found 1962_lo_res.jpg
     
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  3. SensibleSal66

    SensibleSal66 U.S Casual Collector / Error Collector

    All I can say is, WOW! I like the bars because they look like dog bones. Can you imagine? :rolleyes:
     
  4. samclemens3991

    samclemens3991 Well-Known Member

    I am ancient deficient. So these are Not coins but friendship tokens? Is that correct? Would these maybe have been part of a cult of Apollo or some such thing? Any information appreciated. james
     
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  5. calcol

    calcol Supporter! Supporter

    Gold celtic coins of this type are often call barbarous imitations. Very unlikely a cult of Apollo was involved. A chieftain or wealthy merchant had some gold they wanted coined. There was no professional engraver available, so an amateur was given a Greek coin, which depicted Apollo’s chariot, and told to use it as a model for the dies. The result is what you see. Mike
     
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  6. calcol

    calcol Supporter! Supporter

    The dog bone shape is more often called ox-hide shaped. It was often used in ancient times for other metals, like copper. The purpose was to allow ingots to be lashed securely with leather straps or rope. The ox-hide shape wasn’t the only shape used for ingots. For example, bronze was often in crude lumps, and tin could be in a cylinder shape. Mike
     
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