Featured The (Speculative) Story Of A Small Constantinian Hoard From Lyons

This is the story of a small hoard, but it is a bit speculative.


I purchased this group of coins because, based on patina, they seem to have been deposited together.





They are all from Lyons (in Roman times it was called Lugdunum and was named after the Celtic sun-god, Lug or Lugh) and the two soldiers types and Constantinopolis were struck early A.D. 330's. The Crispus VOT was struck a bit earlier around A.D. 324. The really interesting coin is the Sol; which was struck between A.D. 315- 316; almost 20 years before the latest coin in the group - the mintmark star PLG was struck in A.D. 333- 334.

The SOL coin (circa 2% silver) was demonetized by the monetary reform of A.D. 318 which introduced VICTORIAE LAETAE PRINC PERP (circa 4% silver) and the two standard GE's were replaced by one standard type by the A.D. 335 reform when the number of nummi to a pound was raised to 196. (According to Harl's "Coinage in the Roman Economy" the number of bronze coins per pound was 108 in A.D. 318- 330 and 132 for A.D. 330- 335)

The flans had to be made smaller to make more coins, so by 335, there was only room for one standard on the GLORIA EXERCITVS types. Since there are no single standard coins in this small group, these coins would seem to have been hidden away circa A.D. 335.

I bought these from a seller in France, though I do not know the actual find spot. The seller is from Lédenon; which is about 216km from Lyons. Lédenon was already a city by Roman times and is named after the Gallic deity Letinno --'the housing'.

I plan on keeping these coins together.

I also bought this Constantius II campgate (struck A.D. 324- 325) from the same seller and believe it is also part of this "Lédenon hoard".

 

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What a great little group of coins, and a striking patina. With such a consistent colour I'm say you're on the mark regarding them being buried together.

Have you tried seeing if there are any larger hoards reported in the general area to see if this is a part of a bigger group?

 

I got the impression that these were all the coins, at least no more were offered for sale. So probably just this small group found metal detecting.

 

That's a great batch of bronzes, Victor. I would keep them all together as well.

Most would clean the coins, but I happen to like some ancients that way.

 

Cleaning these would ruin them, as the patina helps establish that they are from the "Lédenon hoard". Plus they are all ID'able as is.

 

I'd still clean at least one or two, "conserve" I should say