Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;lehmansterms, post: 2531175, member: 80804&quot;]Erratic finds in North America of European or Asian coins far pre-dating normally &quot;accepted&quot; dates like 1492 are surprisingly common when one goes looking for reports. On following up on the reports, a large number of them will turn out to be modern repros given out as prizes in Sunday school (these will typically be pieces which have some at least tangential Biblical connection.) </p><p>I helped a woman with research she was doing for a Master&#039;s thesis on erratic coin finds in North America 15 years or so ago. </p><p>As anyone who read the linked article probably noticed, it contained a few glaring errors of the sort which almost always accompany write-ups of ancient coins by those who have no prior experience.&nbsp; So one needs to consider both inaccurate reportage and downright (if innocent) ignorance along with the (inevitable, it seems) mass of verbiage from the tinfoil hatters who will point to finds of erratics as proof of aliens, Lost Tribes of Israel, and many,many other amusing theories which will at least lighten the scholastic effort with a bit of levity at their obvious risibility.</p><p>I had three small 3rd &amp; 2nd century BC Greek Æ coins - photos of which I unfortunately did not keep when I sold them to the woman whose research I was assisting. (I might have some pre-digital photography era rubbings if I spent enough time digging for them) These three profoundly worn, overcleaned and otherwise unexceptional pieces were said to have been found metal detecting near the mouth of the Merrimac River which divides Massachusetts from New Hampshire at the coast. Other than the fact that they were all Greek and unquestionably ancient, I was unable to track down any further confirmation of the story. They had been sold to a coin store which had been in Methuen, MA. It was long out of business by this time. It was where the friend from whom I bought those coins had bought them and gotten their story, so there was no way to trace them back to the people who sold them to the coin shop claiming they were found in the area. They were not closely related to each other in time or location of source.</p><p>Also, while doing some of this research I encountered the &quot;Falls of the Ohio hoard&quot; which had been found in a leather pouch some 15 feet underground during excavations in strata presumably undisturbed since at least Roman times - from which the recorded coins dated. Unfortunately, all but two of the original hoard had been dispersed, but two remained in the Falls of the Ohio Museum. They had been on display for many years but had recently been removed from public display because they had become a source of what the staff believed to be unreasonably acrimonious debate about the theories possibly explaining their presence in this place - and the fact that almost all of those theories flew in the face of the old &quot;Columbus discovered the Americas&quot; archaeological canon. </p><p>I incidentally had to tell them that one of the two pieces they had was mis-identified and was actually a Follis of Maximinus II rather than an As of Thrax as it had been identified when displayed. Again, the archaeo/museum bloc was both incorrect and turned out to be unable to face anything like a discussion or what they felt were &quot;uncomfortable questions&quot; - a situation which seems to grow worse rather than there being any sort of rapprochement between the numismatic community and the (often self-) appointed keepers of such artifacts.</p><p>Aside from just a few of these erratic finds (including the Falls of the Ohio coins), a simple and plausible explanation for them was generally that either a modern owner lost them or they were imported in ballast.</p><p>Still, there are (not unlike UFO sightings) a core of a few finds which simply cannot be explained by these otherwise rational theories.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in