New Roman hoard found in Shrewsbury Area (UK) ~ 10,000+ bronze coins

I always find hoards, and hoard coins, interesting. Here's some news about a new hoard I thought might interest some.

http://www.finds.org.uk/wordpress/?p=722

http://www.shropshirestar.com/2009/09/07/10000-roman-coins-unearthed/


More pics...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/finds/3896781376/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/finds/3896783294/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/finds/3896005283/

 

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thanks for sharing, love to find something like that

 

I love the added history of hoard coins in knowing where they were found. It'd be nice if some of these hit the market, after the museums get some examples, and all of them don't end up in a box in a museum basement somewhere never to be seen.

 

I agree. By themselves, the coins aren't worth much. If they were smart, they would sell some of the coins with some sort of certificate of authenticity and information about the hoard for a nice premium. They could then use the profits to develop a nice little exhibit with the remainder of the coins.

Unfortunately, they will probably languish in some museum's basement, forgotten by generations to come.:headbang:

When I was a kid, my father got me a Civil War cannon ball embedded with grapeshot found at a site of a local foundry near our home in Pittsburgh. I will treasure the piece forever. I always thought they could have marketed the cannon balls better, since they were practically giving them away.

guy

P.S.: I shared your article with others at our Rome History site, giving you and Cointalk full credit for finding this article. Thank you, again.

 

LOL not worth much Look at it like this sell each coin at £1 each that is £10000 thats $16,401 Never mind the fact that they have not yet been checked for rarities LOL Sorry not having a go at you but they are worth rather a lot
He will be paid the going rate for the find if a museum decides that they want them (Assuming he dont donate them) also the land owner will have a claim on them.
Even though it is mainly a copper hoard I would love to be able to go through them LOL
Many thanks for the link, I missed it on the news channels

 

Great link, Brian. Although I'm not a detectorist myself, I would LOVE to find a hoard !!!

Q

 

Soooooo nice...Lets hope they decide to release some for sale, I wouldnt mind adding a coin from this hoard to my collection.

 

Thanks for posting the links. Very interesting.

 

I've always hated this attitude by certain archeologists and museum officials. It is a disgustingly elitist attitude that absolutely every historical artifact "evar" should be in a museum and ordinary people should not be allowed to own them.
It just wouldn't be possible to display every single ancient coin or artifact ever found. I can appreciate that finds ought and need to be catalogued and recorded to better increase our knowledge of the period of history they are from, but once this is done, I don't think its neccessary for museums to hoard them all in storerooms. Once the museums have retained an adequate sample, or items of particular rarity or significance, I think the rest ought to be sold to collectors. What many of them don't understand is that the ability of ordinary people to collect these ancient relics actually makes more people interested in learning about the period in history in which the coin they own was minted and used (I don't think I'd ever have studied for a degree in history if my interest in the subject hadn't been piqued by my ability to have physical ownership of certain historical relics). Or maybe they do and don't care, because they rather like the idea of being a privilaged elite, I don't know. Either way, the attitude irritates me. Especially when they go to the extreme of believing that it would be better to destroy (!) coins and relics rather than allow them to exist and perpetuate a market for antiquities. In fact, I recall one female archeologist back in 2003 actually suggesting that Iraqi looters of antiquities ought to be gunned down by coalition forces to dissuade them from taking anything from archeolgical sites!! [/rant]

Anyhoo, this is interesting I definately wouldn't mind owning a few of these coins, especially given the historical context that research may uncover about the significance of the find...

 

Here come the fakes...Every scam needs a great story to go with it. My opineeee.

 

Considering they're mostly common constantinian bronzes and he's declared them to the county coroner, who will have them sent of the British Museum for analysis, the guy who found this would have to be some kind of idiot to distribute fakes this way.

They will be undergoing professional scrutiny and I can't really see any forger bothering to make fakes of common, inexpensive constantinian bronzes that are good enough to fool the professional numismatists who work for the BM's Coin and Medal Department....

 

I wouldnt think it odd if someone did make fakes of common constantine coins because they have (in bulk).... Making them good enough to fool the BM would be another story but a feather in the cap of a forger.

Yesterday I read an interview of a czech man who makes copies of ancient coins and has been since he was a child. He says one of his main goals is to make a coin that looks, in every way, like an ancient coin...of course its also about money, but it was obvious one of the pleasures he gets out of the business is to make EXACT copies of ancients that are true in all ways, hand struck, metal content, size, weight, wear, etc...

I dont think these are fake though...a great lucky find IMO. If any of these are released to be sold, certainly a faker might decide to distribute his fake constantine coins as being from the 'Shrewsbury horde'

 

Well there are always those lucky souls who have the winning lottery ticket too. Maybe I was too harsh in my assessment. Traci

 

While you could certainly fake a hoard, this isn't the way one would go about it.



Here are some coins I have from similar hoards found earlier. Certainly not fakes.




Durotrigan Spread Tail Silver Stater
CELTIC, Britain. Durotriges
Circa 65 BC-AD 45. AR Stater
Struck 58-45 BC

Obverse: Abstract head of Apollo right
Reverse: Disjointed horse left.

Van Arsdell 1238

From Isle of Wight Hoard

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Constantine II / Open Door Campgate / Arles
Attribution: RIC 322 (RIC VII)
Mint: Constantina (Arles), Officina 3, TCONST
Date: 328 AD

Obverse: CONSTANTINVS IVN NOB C; Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust left
Reverse: VIRTVS CAESS; Campgate with open doors and four braziers, star above, S | F across field, TCONST in exergue

Size: 20.48mm
Weight: 3.1 grams

From the Killingholme hoard

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Tetricus I / A.D. 271-274 / Billon Antoninianus
Attribution: RIC 126 (RIC V, Part II)
Mint: Cologne
Date: 273-274 AD

Obverse: IMP TETRICVS P F AVG; Radiate and cuirassed bust right
Reverse: SALVS AVGG; Salus standing left, feeding snake rising from altar left, and holding anchor

Size: 19mm
Weight: 2.35 grams

From the Braithwell Hoard

 

I want to get one of the Braithwell Hoard Tetricus coins...I was looking at some the other day and so often Tetricus coins are is SUCH TERRIBLE shape...these were some of the nicer examples of his coins IMO. The one you have still has the characteristic weak reverse but the portrait is exceptional for the type.

 

I got mine from Alfredo at Imperial Coins. Not sure what he has left, but last time I looked he did have some more.

 

Here's an article that disagrees with the notion that archeologists can be poor guardians of Ancient coins:

http://safecorner.savingantiquities.org/2007/10/notion-that-classical-archaeologists-do.html

The controversial paragraph that the above cited article debates:

"Aren't archaeologists good custodians of ancient coins?

While a few dedicated archaeologist-numismatists do care about coins and have used them to make important contributions to the study of numismatics, many, if not most, archaeologists view coins as just one means to date archaeological sites. Most well preserved specimens that numismatists prize do not even originate from archaeological sites. That is because most large hoards rarely come to light at archaeological sites; the ancients typically sought to hide their savings away from the prying eyes of neighbors. Instead of large hoards of well preserved coins, archaeologists typically find large numbers of ancient "small change" that was lost over time. Such coins are often so corroded by direct exposure to the soil as to be deemed uncollectible. Archaeologists tend not to treat such coins as important historical objects in themselves. Instead, after they serve a limited purpose as but one means to date archaeological sites, coins are all too often dumped into plastic bags and left to deteriorate in storage that usually lacks proper environmental controls."

This article attempts to refute this notion.

guy

 

Guarda la mia collezione dal Braithwell hoard:
View my collection from Braithwell hoard:

http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=2239