Christie's of London recently auctioned an extremely rare Romano-British bronze "Healing Dog" that was found in a hoard of bronze fragments that included a bronze follis of Crispus, pictured below. The heavily encrusted follis was struck at the Trier Mint & dated circa AD 321. The photo taken by Christie's staff shows the reverse upside down . Duh. Pictured below it is another coin of the same type, photo courtesy of WildWinds, that is easier to visualize, 18.67 mm, 2.4 gm. The bronze "Healing Dog" pictured below, photos courtesy of Christie's, measures 8.5 in. long & 5.25 in. tall. The hoard was found in Gloucestershire in August of 2017, & is dated by Christie's circa AD 4th century. Roman legionnaires believed dogs had healing properties & were linked to the healing properties of the god Mars. Celtic warriors had the same belief, & licking dog figures were dedicated to their healing god Norden. The experts at Christie's determined the Roman follis was struck circa AD 321, & obviously the handsome hound could be no older than that. Pictured below the dog are some of the many fragments found along with the hoard. It is believed that this hoard was buried with the intention of returning to it at a later date to melt all these fragments. This beautifully crafted "Healing Hound", along with the hoard, sold for $171,875.00 !
That's not true. The follis is like the newest coin of a coin hoard and determines a probable age of the hoard, but not the age of each piece of the hoard. As a coin hoard can contain older coins, the dog can also be older. Otherwise very interesting.
I would like to think Christies would employ someone who would understand terminus ante/post quem and which side is up. Maybe not. While the coin may serve to date the deposit of the group, it really says little about the date of any single item. Either the coin or the dog could have been a family heirloom passed down for a century or more. If auctioneers dig my house someday they may decide to date my TV to 500 BC because there is a Greek coin within a few feet of it. Evidence is a suggestion; proof requires applying uncommon sense.
