A Roman Coin Found in Tennessee in 1818

I live in Nashville, TN; so I found this interesting. From an 1887 article--

American Journal of Numismatics, and Bulletin of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society, Vol. 22, No. 1 (JULY, 1887), p. 18 (1 page)

https://www.jstor.org/stable/43584817?seq=1

A ROMAN COIN FOUND IN TENNESSEE.

It has long been a desideratum with the learned to know by whom the numerous
old fortifications, etc., in the Western country were erected. It is now in our power
to add one fact that may serve to direct inquiries a little further. A short time since
a cellar was dug in the town of Fayetteville, on Elk River, in that State [Tennessee],
not far from the lines of one of those ancient fortifications so common in the Western
States, and in the dirt was found, corroded with a kind of rust, a small piece of metal,
which being disrobed of its covering was ascertained to be a Roman silver coin, issued
about 150 years before Christ, and in a good state of preservation. It is in the posses-
sion of a merchant in Nashville, and has been seen by hundreds, many of whom are
antiquarians, and they are all satisfied it is a genuine coin, and one gentleman who
was lately in Italy, and saw the busts of the persons presented on the coin, declares
the heads very good likenesses. On one side, around the edge, these letters are seen :
ANTONiNvs AVG pivs pp trp cos. in. On the other side, avrelis caesar avg p hi
Cos, which is constructed thus : Antoninus Augustus Pius, princp. pontifex tertio constile,
Aurelius Caesar, Augustus pontifex tertio constile. The marks, letters, etc., exactly
agree in every particular with the probable state of the arts and history of the times ;
but how the coin was brought to Tennessee we leave others to ascertain. Since the
subject of the Roman coin has occupied public attention, we have learned many facts
interesting to the antiquarian. [An extract from "The Port Folio," Vol. VI (July-
December, 1818), page 268.]


the original article was published in 1818

The Port folio 4th ser. v.6 (July-Dec. 1818)

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101064079328&seq=1

 

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Interesting! I imagine it must have been the pocket piece of some gentleman. I think they got the date a bit off, though.

 

LOL, when I lived in Murfreesboro during the 80's, I used to go to Fayetteville every month. Must have lost my coin then...

Perhaps approx 150 CE not BCE

 

They probably meant to write "about 150 years after Christ"

 

Cool article and cool coin! It sounds like a denarius of Antoninus Pius with Marcus Aurelius on the reverse. Would have been collectable even in the 18th and 19th centuries when it was probably lost by a settler who carried it over...

 

also from the same 1887 article

American Journal of Numismatics, and Bulletin of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society, Vol. 22, No. 2 (OCTOBER, 1887), p. 40

"Haywood, in his Aboriginal History of Tennessee, published in 1823, devotes nearly a chapter to the consideration of a Roman coin (of Antoninus Pius, date about A. D. 150) alleged to have been found at a depth of several feet in the natural soil at Fayetteville, Tenn., but his statement of facts is meager and unsatisfactory, and his observations regarding it are often so preposterous that the intelligent reader soon loses faith in the genuineness and value of the discovery."

​

 

It's helpful to read the initial 1818 narrative along with the 1887 retrospection.

It reminds me of a quote from a book full of wisdom I have. "The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him." It's from 1817*.

* Proverbs 18:17.

 

In the 16th - 19th c. Europe, most of the Roman coins found as stray finds or in hoards had little or no value. But they could be shipped to America for trade with the natives.