So every once in a while I will post a coin on Facebook with a little write-up for nonspecialists. I got this one in this week from Sebastian Sondermann--a good first experience with this dealer. He has a number of South Petherton hoard coins offered very reasonably. It's my first hoard coin and first of the Gallic Empire. Pile on with your Postumi, or hoard coins, as you will. My FB write up is below. ----------------------------- Most of the time a collector really has no idea where an ancient coin might have come from. Of course its mint city will usually be known, but how and where it circulated, and how it was rediscovered in the modern day are almost always unknowable. Unless, of course, one acquires a coin from a documented hoard. That’s what I received a few days ago: a coin of Postumus, from the South Petherton Hoard. Postumus is an interesting figure. In the third century, the Roman Empire was a mess–so much so that Postumus, the general over the Gallic legions, pretty much declared himself Emperor of Gaul, and of Germania, Britannia, and Hispania to boot. The “official” or central Roman Emperor, Gallienus, was so busy with Germanic barbarians and hostilities in the East that he had to ignore Postumus’s rebellion for a decade, 260-269 A.D., until Postumus himself was wacked by his own troops for forbidding their despoliation of a conquered city. By 274, the Roman Emperor Aurelian had conquered all usurpers and rebels, uniting the Empire once again. Probably in that year or shortly afterward, someone in Britannia buried 7,563 coins–773 being of Postumus. This is one of them. There the coins stayed until November 13th, 2013, when George Hughes went metal detecting in the village of South Petherton, Somerset, England, and found this hoard. But why were these coins buried in the first place? Was there strife in the region shortly after Aurelian’s reconquest that occasioned a fearful burial of wealth, and the owner did not live to retrieve them? The fact that most of the coins in this hoard were of debased metal from a breakaway province meant that the coins might not have held much value at the time, so perhaps the owner couldn’t do much with them but could not bear to melt them down or discard them in the moment. For whatever reason, this coin from the South Petherton Hoard is a material testament to a volatile period in Roman history, and a tangible connection to a day in 274 A.D. when an anxious Briton took an extreme measure to preserve some modicum of his wealth.
Great addition. I definitely enjoy knowing where my coin came from, when it was dug up. Victorinus AE antoninianus. 3.45g IMP C VICTORINVS P F AVG, radiate, draped & cuirassed bust right / PAX AVG, Pax standing left, holding branch and sceptre. V-star across fields. RIC 118, Cohen 79; Sear 11175. Provenance: Discovered in South Petherton, Somerset, on 13th November, 2013.
Love me some hoard coins. You just get an extra tale to the story of the coin. I've been inspired to seek out my first hoard coin purchase. Thanks a lot OP!
Cool Facebook score! I have never considered looking for coins there... I have several Postumus coins...here's one of my favorites:
Very nice, Gavin! I don't think I have any coins which can be traced back to the ground but I sure would like to have some! Postumus CE 260-269 antoninianus, 20 x 22 mm, 3.0 gm struck CE 263 Obv: IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right Rev: PROVIDENTIA AVG, Providentia standing left, leaning on a column, holding a scepter in her right hand and a cornucopiae in her left; at her feet to left, globe Ref: RIC VII 81, Cologne [supposedly; I certainly don't know this for a fact]; AGK (corr.) 70. Cunetio -. Elmer 334. Gilljam -
Excellent coin of a type I hold 'special'... My example does not have provenance to the ground but did come to me with a tale of adventure. In the fall of 1998, two friends and I traveled from our homes near Washington DC to southern Pennsylvania to visit the offices of coin auctioneer CNG so we could preview their upcoming sale 47. My Interest in this sale was that it included the remnants from the Severan collection of my late friend Roger Bickford Smith whose passing set back the study of the Eastern mint denarii of Septimius Severus for decades. His good coins went to the British Museum. After viewing the lots (I ended up buying ten coins at that sale) we were shown some coins available for immediate purchase. I ended up buying three of which the Postumus with IOVI STATORI was one. These were the days before CNG had electronic sales for coins not worthy of their catalog auctions. Some of what we saw were things that did not sell in previous sales. I remember being attracted to this coin because it was well struck on a very thick flan and decided that I needed to buy something to make the trip 'worthwhile'. The other two coins were half again as expensive as this one (and $50 was a lot for this coin in 1998) but all three are still with me and in the category of things that will be sold after my passing. Advice: Buy coins you like and keep them.
