Mauseus

Leeds VC holders

2011-10-12T19:58:00.008+01:00

I was coming back from a meeting in a very wet Leeds today when I came across a memorial I hadn't thought about for a long time. In front of the Art Gallery on the Headrow is a bronze plaque dedicated to the VC winners who were either born in Leeds or were buried in Leeds.

The name are alphabetical but I want to give you the story of the first name on there, Acting Flight Sergeant Arthur Louis Aaron of the RAF. He was the only winner of the medal from Leeds during World War II.

Arthur Louis Aaron – Flight Sergeant, Age 21 - No.218 Squadron, RAF Volunteer Reserve, Turin, Italy - August 12th 1943

Three engines, the windscreen and the elevator controls of his Stirlling bomber were hit by gunfire. This made the aircraft unstable and very difficult to fly. Aaron and other crewmembers were injured. The navigator was killed. Aaron’s jaw was broken, parts of his face torn away, his lung damaged and right hand unusable. The aircraft dived several thousand feet until he managed to level the aircraft at 3,000 ft. His bomb aimer took control of the aircraft whilst Aaron received medical attention and morphine. Too weak to control the aircraft and unable to speak because of his facial injuries he wrote instructions with his left hand. Aaron died nine hours after the bomber belly landed at Bone airfield in Tunisia.

The mission was his 20th. Arthur Aaron was also the holder of the Distinguished Flying Medal. Because of his lowly rank Flight Sergeant Aaron was not eligibe for the Distinguished Flying Cross, a rank divide that was rectified in 1993 when the DFM was withdrawn and the DFC became available to a ranks.

Born and educated in Leeds, Aaron studied to be an architect and, in March 1941, he became one of 23 cadets who formed the Inaugural Flight of Leeds University Air Squadron.

To mark the millennium a statue to Arthur Louis Aaron was sited on the roundabout close to the West Yorkshire Playhouse at the start of the Headrow.

York military railway

2011-09-30T19:45:00.006+01:00

River Ouse looking downstream from the Millennium bridge towards the old Terry's factory

An Indian Summer set in over the UK and Val and I decided to take Friday off from work and walk across the Knavesmire and then follow the River Ouse up into the city of York.

Once we had crossed the Millennium Bridge to the right bank of the river (heading upstream) I came across a feature that I had been told about but until recently had never been able to find. Now I know where it is I can't miss it and wonder how I ever did!

The remains of the military railway narrow railway looking towards the bricked gateway

That feature is the military light railway constructed to run from a wharf on the River Ouse (sadly now lost) to run into the military supply depot and army hospital that existed a short distance away. The railway was constructed in 1888 to move supplies brought by river from London. I don't sadly know when the feature was abandoned and the gateway into the establishment bricked up.

The River Ouse looking upstream towards Skeldergate Bridge with the River Foss confluence on the right.

Castlerigg stone circle

2011-09-11T18:33:00.006+01:00

Recently returned from a week in the Lake District. On one of the hills outside Keswick is a stone circle called Castlerigg.

The stones are of a local metamorphic slate, set in a flattened circle, measuring 32.6 m (107 ft) at its widest and 29.5 m (97 ft) at its narrowest. The heaviest stone has been estimated to weigh around 16 tons and the tallest stone measures approximately 2.3m high. There is a 3.3m wide gap in its northern edge, which may have been an entrance. Within the circle, abutting its eastern quadrant, is a roughly rectangular setting of a further 10 stones. The circle was probably constructed around 3200 BC (Late Neolithic/Early Bronze-Age), making it one of the earliest stone circles in Britain and possibly in Europe.

It is important to archaeoastronomers who have noted that the sunrise during the Autumn equinox appears over the top of Threlkeld Knott, a hill 3.5 km to the east.

Recently a Roman fort has been discovered to the south of the stone circle, dissected by the narrow track. Nothing above ground is visible and it is hard to see how the presence of te fort influenced the name of the area as some have suggested.

The Glenelg Iron Age Brochs

2011-08-16T21:06:00.005+01:00

Dun Telve

I’ve recently returned from holiday on the Glenelg peninsular in Scotland, just across from the Isle of Skye on the west coast. Three miles down the road were two brochs or dry stone, hollow walled towers that date from the 1^st cent. BC/AD called Dun Telve and Dun Troddan.

Dun Telve

Brochs are the most spectacular of a complex class of roundhouse buildings found throughout "Atlantic Scotland".

Dun Troddan

The construction is rather strange in that there are steps and floors in the hollow walls that suggest they served as corridors, although they do get rather narrow the further up you go.

Dun Troddan internal staircase

Brochs' close groupings and profusion in many areas may suggest that they had a primarily defensive or even offensive function, although it is probably best to consider broch sites individually in that there may never have been a single common purpose for which every broch was constructed.

A ghostly apparition of Carausius

2011-08-10T21:12:00.012+01:00

I was leafing through the 1948 volume of Seaby's Coin and Medal Bulletin when I came upon a note by Edith M Mellor on the reported ghostly visits through the ages of the Romano-British usurper Carausius:

"When any great crisis in our history has been successfully surmounted, or about to be, Carausius is said to lead his triumph once again through Britain. The most curious feature of the story is that persons of 3 different centuries, two Elizabethan undergraduates, a divine of Queen Anne's reign and a young yachtsman of the Napoleonic era all claim to have seen him, and have left record in writing to that effect. The details of the apparitions encountered do not vary. First in the procession come the Roman soldiers, marching in ranks, then lions led in front of a golden chariot in which stands a man in a laurel wreath of great statue, powerful physique and most forbidding appearence, Carausius himself. After the chariot come fair haired captives dragged along in chains, and then more legionaries.

(1) The two Elizabethans said they "suffered a strange enchantment" while they were bathing in a mere near Cambridge, when they saw the Emperor and his train approach the edge of the mere and vanish in it.

(2) The clergyman and his party from Westmorland were just taking an al fresco lunch on their way to revisit his old University by coach, when they saw the triumph approaching them.

(3) The young yachtsman saw it parade along the bank of the broad, in which his boat was moored and sent a letter to his father describing it.

A friend of my own, an archaeologist, working in Suffolk towards the end of the Great War, was assured by the old country people that everything would be well because "that old there Roman Circus is on the move again""

Hebden Beck mines

2011-06-19T18:38:00.014+01:00

Looking upstream from where Bolton Gill joins Hebden Beck, three mine shafts are located behind the left hand wall.

Last week I had the opportunity to visit some of the abandoned industrial sites along Hebden Beck in rural upper Wharfedale.

An office and store overlooking the dressing floor where ores were cleaned and concentrated ready for smelting.

The area was extensively mined until the late 19th/early 20th for lead (galena, lead (II) sulphide) and zinc (sphalarite, a sulphide ore of zinc that also contains iron). The geology is such that, although not mined, there would be cadmium present in the form of greenockite.

Charger Level. Begun about 1863 to cut the Beever vein in the bearing grit this level only found a poor vein full of clay.

The areas of mining spoil are still so barren, even after 100 years, that they look to have been deposited yesterday.

Cottages near the smelt mill that was built in 1858 by the Hebden Moor Mining Company.

Carausius and Sol yet again

2011-05-23T18:07:00.004+01:00

In October and November 2009 I posted three times on the jugate bust coins of Carausius and Sol.

Here 1

Here 2
Here 3

I noted that RIC and the Hunter Coin Catalogue publication both incorrectly listed an unillustrated coin of the Glasgow University coin collection as having the bust depicted to the right (clearly in error as the coin was said to be an obverse die duplicate of another illustrated coin).

I believe I have now found an illustration of the Glasgow PAX AVGVSTI coin as such a specimen is listed as being in the collection of Scottish doctor John Kennedy in his book, Further Observations on Carausius, Emperor of Britain, and Oriuna (1756).It is interesting to note that Kennedy’s collection of coins of Carausius and Allectus, 256 of the former (including nine silver) and 89 of the latter were purchased by a Mr Webb for the grand total of £86/10 when they came up for auction in 1760 (J Nichols, Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century (1810)). Many of the Kennedy coins from his two publications on Carausius and Oriuna can be identified in the plates of Anne Robertson's Hunter collection catalogue from 1978.

West End Pier, Morecambe

2011-03-22T20:49:00.006Z

Postcard postmarked 1905

The archaeology of relatively modern lost features also interests me and it is to that area that I want to dedicate this post.

As a child of the sixties and seventies I spent a lot of time in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. Recently, whilst clearing out the garage of my late mother I came across two pieces of a structure that was largely destroyed in 1977 and finally demolished in 1978 - West End Pier. They were picked up from the sand and even now, having being submerged in seawater and then left forgotten in the garage, retain the pale blue paint that was their final colour.

Work began building the pier in 1893 and it opened in 1896 when it had a length of 1800 feet and was extended in 1898.

Postcard no date

It was breached in two places by a storm in February 1903 and further storm damage occurred in 1907, washing away 180 feet of the extension.

1903 storm damage

The pavilion was wrecked by fire in 1917. After a further storm, on 18th October 1927, the pier measured just 900 feet. It remained, however, a centre for a variety of entertainment despite the loss of the concert building.

Postcard postmarked 1943

In November 1977, further storm damage wrecked a third of the pier and isolated the open-air dancing and roller-skating area. Repair costs were estimated at a prohibitive £500,000 and the pier was demolished in 1978.

Postcard postmarked 1917

Derventio Roman Fort

2011-03-07T23:30:00.007Z

Towards the end of January I had the opportunity to visit the remains of the Roman fort at Malton in North Yorkshire on a wonderfully crisp winter morning.

Sadly at this site, located on the Pickering Road on the outskirts of town on a piece of land known as Orchard Field, there are only earthworks remaining and a single stone erected in the corner of the site commemorating the structure.

The fort was probably known as Derventio, a name recorded in the Antonine itineraria and it is this that I want to comment on. The town of Malton is located on the River Derwent and this got me thinking..... is the fort named after the river or the river named after the fort?

In the itineraria Iter 1 shows the road from Bremenium (High Rochester) to Praetorio (assumed to be Petuaria, now known as Brough on Humber). The Antonine itinerary is quite accurate to Eboracum (York), but then a discrepency creeps in:

Eboracvm - Derventio: 7 Roman miles, 6.5 modern equivalent miles, 18 actual miles
Derventio - Delgovicia: 13 Roman miles, 12 modern equivalent miles, 13 actual miles
Delgovicia - Praetorio: 25 Roman miles, 23 modern equivalent miles, 19 actual miles

The most plausible explanation that has been put forward is that there is a copyists error in the itinerary of vii for xvii and this would then accurately follow the known Roman road network.

I'm on my way back........

2011-03-07T23:27:00.002Z

Hi, the blog has lapsed after a torrid time at the end of last year and the beginning of this. I am now going to be posting more regularly again in the next day or so.

Thanks for sticking with this,

Mauseus

When On Google Earth 102

2010-11-08T21:56:00.005Z

Hi,

Don't let this die on my watch! Are clues needed or will you take it on Geoff Carter? If you want to see and take part look at my October 2010 posting.

Update

A clue has now been added to the October posting......

Augustus Pitt Rivers

2010-11-07T17:38:00.005Z

Having come across an old post-card from 1908 of Bramham Park reminded me of one of its more famous residents, Augustus Pitt Rivers and some selections from his Wikipedia entry are posted below.

Lieutenant-General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers (14 April 1827 – 4 May 1900) was an English army officer, ethnologist, and archaeologist. He was noted for his innovations in archaeological methods, and in the museum display of archaeological and ethnological collections.

Born Augustus Henry Lane Fox at Bramham cum Oglethorpe, Wetherby, Yorkshire on 14 April 1827, he was the son of William Lane Fox and Lady Caroline Douglas, a sister of George Douglas, 17th Earl of Morton. Educated at the Royal Military College Sandhurst and commissioned into the Grenadier Guards, Lane Fox had a long and successful military career, primarily as a staff officer; he served in the Crimea as a lieutenant. He retired in 1882 as a Lieutenant-General. Two years before retirement, Lane Fox inherited the estates of a cousin: Henry Pitt, Baron Rivers and consequently the remainder of the fabulous Richard Rigby fortune. He thereafter adopted the surname Pitt Rivers in honour of his benefactor.

Augustus Pitt Rivers

Pitt Rivers' interests in archaeology and ethnology began in the 1850s, during postings overseas, and he became a noted scientist while he was still a serving military officer. He was elected, in the space of five years, to the Ethnological Society of London (1861), the Society of Antiquaries of London (1864) and the Anthropological Society of London (1865). By the time he retired he had amassed ethnographic collections numbering tens of thousands of items from all over the world. Influenced by the evolutionary writings of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer, he arranged them typologically and (within types) chronologically. This style of arrangement, designed to highlight the evolutionary trends in human artefacts, was a revolutionary innovation in museum design. Pitt Rivers' ethnological collections today form the basis of the Pitt Rivers Museum which is still one of Oxford's leading attractions.

The estates that Pitt Rivers inherited in 1880 contained a wealth of archaeological material from the Roman and Saxon periods. He excavated these over seventeen seasons, beginning in the mid-1880s and ending with his death. His approach was highly methodical by the standards of the time, and he is widely regarded as the first scientific archaeologist to work in Britain. His most important methodological innovation was his insistence that all artefacts, not just beautiful or unique ones, be collected and catalogued. This focus on everyday objects as the key to understanding the past broke decisively with past archaeological practice, which had often verged on treasure hunting. It is Pitt Rivers' most important and most lasting scientific legacy. Moreover his work inspired Mortimer Wheeler among others to add to the scientific approach of archaeological excavation techniques.

From 1882 Pitt Rivers served as Britain's first Inspector of Ancient Monuments: a post created by anthropologist and parliamentarian John Lubbock who was married to Pitt Rivers' daughter, Alice. Charged with cataloguing archaeological sites and protecting them from destruction, he worked with his customary methodical zeal but was hampered by the limitations of the law, which gave him little real power over the landowners on whose property the sites stood.

The Multangular Tower and south-west wall of Eboracum

2010-10-13T13:04:00.016+01:00

My home city of York is blessed with significant Roman remains and I just wanted to post a little on the Roman fortress, in particular the south west wall.

The Roman fortess at Eboracum occupies a site on the northern bank of the River Ouse with the principia located directly under the minster. What is apparent is that the south west wall is constructed significantly differently to the remaining three walls and I just want to explore this a little more.

The multangular tower. The front left corner of the York fortress probably rebuilt by Constantine I in the early third century AD. The later Mediaeval brickwork in larger stone is clearly evident to the top of the tower.

One of the most recognisable features that sets this wall apart are the two "multangular" towers with 10 facets (14 if they were to be constructed to join up) that sit at the extreme ends, only one of which is still visible, located in the Museum Gardens of the Yorkshire museum. The external nature of these two corner towers is unusual, although not unknown, and it has been postulated that because similar towers are found at Gamzigrad in Dacia, the location of the palace of Galerius, where construction began at the beginning of the fourth century.

The interior of the multangular tower with the holes visible in the wall for the false floor and late Roman stone sarcophagi in the base.

Another feature of this south east wall, not reproduced on the other three walls of the York fortress, are the external butresses to the interval towers. This method of construction is known from Britain on the Roman forts known as the Saxon shore forts, although those do not posess the distinctive corner towers observed at York. Numismatic evidence dates the Saxon shore forts to be constructed from late in the third century through to the first couple of dacades of the fourth.

The small stonework and upper brick layer of an external tower on the front of the Roman fort at York dating from the fourth century AD.

So, on the face of it there does seem to be justification, in the absence of other evidence, for an early fourth century date for the construction of this particular wall, if no a reworking of all four walls at York.

One question that is hard to answer is why only undertake this work on one wall of the fort? A cynic might say that it was purely for appearences, the look was more important than the substance. This wall certainly houses the Porta Praetoria, the gate that was the main entry into the city and prestige could be an option.

It also faces a structure on the oppisite bank of the river that was the residence of the Governor of Britannia Inferior (the fourth century division of Roman Britain into "Superior" and "Inferior" is well documented).

Finally, could it be the result of an imperial presence "gentrifying" or "grandifying" the entrance? Constantius Chlorus (AD 305-6) was resident in York when he died, along with his son Constantine ("the Great"). The death of Constantius precipitated Constantine being proclaimed emperor by the troops. We also have the possibility that it was done for a potential subsequent visit of Constantine to York around the time of his quinquennalia or 5th anniversary of his accession.

Constantine I London Mint ADVENTVS AVG follis, an imperial entry into Britain

Constantine spent his quinquennial year (July 310-July 311) in the western provinces. The Latin panegyrics note a visit to Autun possibly just after July 211 and no other visits listed BUT Eusebius, in Book 1 of his "Life of Constantine", does have a passage of interest:

"Having disposed of these affairs to his satisfaction, he directed his attention to other quarters of the world, and first passed over to the British nations, which lie in the very bosom of the ocean. These he reduced to submission, and then proceeded to consider the state of the remaining portions of the empire, that he might be ready to tender his aid wherever circumstances might require it."

The passage, coming just before the passages dealing with the war against Maxentius that concluded with the battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312, would apparently date his British caampaign to 310/11, a visit that would coincide also with the quinquennalia and one might find it reasonable to propose an imperial visit at this celebratory time to the place of elevation which, in itself, could have brought about the cosmetic improvement to the fortress.

When on Google Earth 102

2010-10-12T07:12:00.004+01:00

Having recently identified the Shankh Monastery in Mongolia that was WOGE 101 it is now my turn to host. This is my challenge; be the first to correctly identify the site below, and its major period of occupation, in the comments below, and you can host your own!

The rules:
Q: What is When on Google Earth?
A: It’s a game for archaeologists, or anybody else willing to have a go!
Q: How do you play it?
A: Simple, you try to identify the site in the picture.
Q: Who wins?
A: The first person to correctly identify the site, including its major period of occupation, wins the game.
Q: What does the winner get?
A: The winner gets bragging rights and the chance to host the next When on Google Earth on his/her own blog!

Be the first to correctly identify the site below and its major period of occupation in the comments below and you can host your own!

More When On Google Earth
For a list of previous winners see Electric Archaeologist here …
or join the Facebook group here….

CLUES

A clue has been asked for. The site lies in a town that, tradition tells us, was founded by Thorgils Skarthi in 966. This site, however, is a multiperiod site and has a feature that predates the town foundation.

Iron Age hill forts

2010-09-12T20:51:00.008+01:00

As you may have worked out I've been in Dorset recently and have got to visit a couple of Iron Age hillforts recently.

The first was Blackbury(sic) Camp on the outskirts of Beer.

The ramparts are still relatively high, showing an unusual entrance feature. The fort occupies the end of a large ridge at some 185 metres (607 ft) above sea level.

It was defended by a single bank and ditch, forming a roughly D-shaped enclosure.

A triangular barbican was added to the south but was never completed.

The fort was probably occupied in the second and first centuries BC by a cattle-farming community.

The second one, that I got to see on my 44th birthday, was Maiden Castle in Dorset, the best preserved Iron Age fort in the UK.

Originally built during the Bronze Age it was remodelled to finally posses a very complicated east and west gateway arrangment.

The defensive ramparts, and their steepness, also need to be seen to be believed.
The site also boasts a small 4th century Romano-British temple, constructed long after to site was abandoned. Based on a plaque discovered during its excavation the dedication was to Minerva.
Finally, to the north east, you can see a large Bronze Age round barrow ("bell barrow" form).

Archaeology in the rain....

2010-09-07T19:37:00.007+01:00

Well, I guess yesterday with an utter downpour from lunchtime through to 7pm wasn't the time to enthuse my partner Val and her sister in archaeological sites.
We'd just left Portland Bill in heavy rain where they both spent some very happy childhood years (including lunch in the Lobster Pot but they no longer serve "Hubbly Bubbly" to drink) when I slammed the anchors on the car and stuck it into reverse. I hadn't noticed it on the way down there but there was a mesolithic site, Culverwell, on out way back.

Culverwell mesolithic settlement

A small settlement site, now just a series of grassy mounds, from c.5-6,000 years BC was evidence of a semi sedentry life, living off seafood in early Britain.

We continued on to Weymouth and the rain continued to pound. Having driven along the seafront I took my captive passengers to a small Roman temple site on the eastern edge of town, located on Jordan Hill.

Weymouth Roman temple

There is little, other than the foundations of the interior structure of the shrine, that is visible on the hill but the sea views are impressive and also this would have been clearly visible from the sea . Sadly this was not the day to appreciate them. There is no information as to whom the temple was dedicated but given the position Neptune (for the sea) or Mercury (for trade) would not be out of place.

The final treat for my passengers was a visit to the Cerne Abbas giant.

The "Giant" through the rain

The figure, carved into the hillside, was only just visible given the appaling weather. Naked (apart from sheep), and holding a club (with a "cloak" still uncovered on the other arm) the figure looks like a crude representation of Hercules. The date does prove something of a conundrum. Some postulate it is Roman or sub Roman, whilst others suggest it is of a much later date, 17th century perhaps, being first recorded in documents of 1694.

The quinquennalia of Carausius

2010-08-22T11:56:00.002+01:00

It is surprising how taking a fresh look at a worn coin will give you a different reading and that has happened to me with this coin:

Carausius 287-93
Antoninianus
Obv"IMP CARAVSIVS P AV"
Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev "[VO]TA QVI C[AE]"
Roma seated on shield left
-/-//[MX?]
RIC - (cf 1095)

I thought it had read ROMA CONS, however, what I thought was ON at the top of the coin is actually QVI and is actually a coin from his quinquennalia, the vows discharged after five years reign and looking forward another 5 years to his decennalia or 10th anniversary (MX below the seated Roma, not really visible on this coin being short for "MVLTIS 10").

I was familiar with the two or three known similar examples and even commented on the similarity of my specimen without making the final leap into attributing as such. Re-examination of the reverse lettering has now confirmed it for me, after being mis-identified for eight years or so.

The Frome Hoard of Carausius

2010-08-19T17:11:00.004+01:00

I was invited down to the British Museum yesterday by Sam Moorhead for lunch and to discuss the work he’s currently doing on Carausius, both with the recent Frome hoard and the older Elveden hoard.

As well as seeing the small public display I got to have a quick look at the rest of the hoard, bagged and in boxes and most of it awaiting conservation, as well as the two denarii and a handfull of already conserved coins not on public display.

The denarii are as impressive as the pictures, if not more so and far exceed the quality of the remaining Carausian denarii in the BM's collection.

What is interesting is that the hoard has been carefully excavated down through the pot and seems to have been assembled from smaller pots. The reason for this hypothesis is that it seemingly terminates with London B/E coins (c.290) yet the greatest concentration of Carausius coins by far, including these terminal coins, was in the middle layer. The denarii, struck early in the reign, were found in the upper layers.

Hopefully a small booklet will be out shortly, within a week or two, to summarise the hoard (similar to what was produced for the West Midlands Saxon gold finds) with a full academic publication in due course.

An Edward Jekyll update.......

2010-08-13T09:51:00.005+01:00

It's been a while since I posted here but (hopefully that will change).

I can report a small update in identifying the Edward Joseph Jekyll named on a Victorian bookplate (see HERE for the original posting).

I was leafing through Harrington Manville's book 'British Numismatic Auction Catalogues, 1710-1984' when I came across a sale catalogue of Sotheby's from 15-16 June 1915 which listed the collection of early British, Anglo Saxon and English coins of Edward Joseph Jekyll of Ampthill.

As the younger Captain Edward Jekyll died in 1921 I suspect that this is his collection (and therefore he was the previous owner of the book in the original post). That is not to say that any collection or library of the elder Edward Jekyll wasn't passed down to his son.

Seleucia ad Tigrim

2010-05-05T13:13:00.002+01:00

I recently came across this small bronze in a group of coins purchased for stock. I don’t normally do much with Greek coinage but it looked interesting and easy enough to identify.

It turns out to be a coin assigned to a mint at Seleucia ad Tigrim (a different city called Seleucia to the previous post), although the city ethnic does not appear on the coin the authorities appear to be confident over that part of the attribution, but from what date?

Ostensibly the coin bears a date of 224 but how does that translate to our own era? In a footnote to BMC (Greek) Parthia from 1903 there is the suggestion that if this is the Seleucid era it should be 89/8 BC, however the character of the coin may mean that it is later in date and uses a local dating era. An earlier misreading gave these coins a date of 324 in the Seleucid era, clearly in error, and there was speculation of them being issued at a time when the city was in revolt.

BMC (Greek) Mesopotamia from 1922, in which the coin is actually catalogued, again has this speculation but is no further on with a date attribution.

The coin is available for purchase by either following the link on the top left (although people using Firefox as a browser may experience some difficulty logging in) or may be reserved by expressing an interest in a comment to this post.

Gallienus from Seleucia

2010-04-17T22:30:00.012+01:00

I have a passion for the provincial coins and this one just came my way as an unidentified coin of Macrinus (217-8) when it is, in reality, a coin of Gallienus (253-68). The mint city is Seleucia ad Calycadnum in Cilicia.

Obverse: AV K Π ΛK ΓAΛΛIHNOC, draped, cuirassed and laureate bust right, seen from behind

Reverse: CEΛEVKEΩN KAΛVKAΔNΩ, Athena stg. right, shield in left hand, stabbing with spear a Giant with snakelike feet, who kneels before her; he grabs her spear with left hand and has a rock in his raised right hand. Rare.

The reverse shows a scene of the Gigantomachia. After Zeus has locked up the Titans in the Tartaros, Gaia sets her sons, the Giants, on the Olympic gods. They are human shaped with snakelike feet. The battle occurred at Phlegra. The Giants throw rocks and mountains. They couldn't be killed by gods, only by humans. So Herakles came into play. He shot a poisoned arrow on Alkyoneus and dragged him over the frontier where he died. Athena threw the island of Sicily on another Giant, where he was buried. His fire breathing comes out of the volcano, Mount Etna, until today.

Seleucia ad Calycadnum is located a few miles from the mouth of the Calycadnus river in south-central Mersin province of Turkey, 80 km (50 mi) west of the city of Mersin. It is now known as Silifke.

An almost perfect coin of Aurelian....

2010-04-11T17:20:00.006+01:00

I want to feature here a coin that is almost perfect, a beautifully detailed coin of the Roman emperor Aurelian (270-5AD). It will also give me the opportunity to correct a slight error in the catalogue reference number in the sales description (mea culpa!).

Silvered antoninianus, RIC V 254, MIR (Göbl) 225c1 (not c2 as I list in the sales description)

Siscia mint, obverse IMP C AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust right; reverse ORIENS AVG, Sol standing left holding globe in left and raising right, right foot on captive, second captive to right, * in left field, P in exergue

This is a truly superb coin with well detailed features, every fleck of hair and detail on the emperor's cuirass (armour) is evident. Click on the picture for an enlarged version to enhance the detail.. It also retains the full silver coating of the period.

These coins are about 5% silver, the remaining metal composition being bronze. The imiscibility, or "unmixability" of copper (the major constituent of bronze) and silver was exploited by the Romans to produce coins that looked like silver when they were new but soon betrayed their base metal core.

This coin can be purchased, guaranteed for a lifetime as genuine, by following the link at the top left of this page.

An update to the origins of Mauseus

2010-04-04T18:54:00.004+01:00

I had always assumed that the name "Mauseus", as part of Carausius' names, had come from Germanic or Britannic origins but that may not be the case. In the new Numismatic Chronicle (volume 169, 2009) there is the latest in a series of papers by Richard Ashton on the ancient coins of Rhodes. This particular paper is about a specific series of bronze coins that have the name of an official on "Mousais". Could it be that the origins are much further south and derive from the Greek?

Why mauseus......

2010-03-24T22:12:00.003Z

I met a couple of aquaintences from the US in the flesh the other week when they visited York and one of them asked me "why Mauseus?".

I am a student of the Roman usurper Carausius (287-93AD) who took Britain away from Roman control temporarily. My avatar is his portrait, taken from a base silver coin of the reign. Mauseus is one version or reconstruction of one of his names, Marcus Aurelius Mauseus Carausius. There are other spellings or reconstructions of that part of his name.
On the coins it rarely appears in any form and I don't think I've seen anything other than the initial M. The reconstruction comes from the single piece of known epigraphy from the reign, a milestone from Old Penrith (RIB 2290-2), that expands it as far as MAVS.
We are lucky for this to survive as the milestone was reused after Britain was retaken and a Constantius I inscription was put on the opposite end, the Carausius end being buried. There is an erased inscription on the middle and this is probably from the reign of another rebble, Allectus, who succeeded Carausius and represents the only known potential inscription of that reign (erased because it would still be visible in the stones upended state).

The entry of Constantius II into Rome in 356AD

2010-02-26T18:09:00.008Z

Constantius II, AE maiorina, Siscia mint, RIC VIII Siscia 257

Roman coins of the fourth century AD take on a rather uniform and quite stylised approach to portraiture where the individual features of the emperor can be lost. They almost become caricatures with quite staring, cold eyes. Expressionless!

I then came across a passage in the writings of Ammianus Marcellinus, the historian who wrote an imperial history from Nerva in the first century through to the late fourth century, of an imperial visit of Constantius to Rome in 356 AD which certainly made me look at the imperial image, as presented on the coins, in a different way.

"As he (Constantius) approached the city he let his eye dwell without expression on the senators paying their humble duty and the venerable images of the patrician families"

And continues:

"The emperor was greeted with welcoming cheers, which were echoed from the hills and river banks, but in spite of the din he exhibited no emotion, but kept the same impassive air as he commonly wore before his subjects in the provinces. Though he was very short he stooped when he passed under a high gate; otherwise he was like a dummy, gazing straight before him as if his head were in a vice and turning neither to right nor left. When a wheel jolted he did not nod, and at no point was he seen to spit or to wipe or rub his face or nose or to move his hand. All this was no doubt affectation, but he gave other evidence too in his personal life of an unusual degree of self control, which one was given to believe belonged to him alone"

Constantius II, AE maiorina, Siscia mint, RIC VIII Siscia 251

Two Saxon penny fragments

2010-02-23T22:58:00.003Z

I recently photographed and posted a message on FORVM (site link left) about a Saxon penny I have of king Edgar. At the same time I photographed two other penny fragments in my posession.
The first coin is of Burgred of Mercia made by the moneyer CENRED (the remnants of his name "....ENRED" can be seen across the centre of the reverse).

Burgred ruled Mercia between 852 and 874 and was successful in a campaign to subdue northern Wales. However, it was a period of Danish raids and he had to appeal to the kings of Wessex, Ethelred and Ethelred's brother Alfred (the Great). Unfortunately the Danes managed to drive Burgred from his kindom and he fled to Rome where he spent the remainder of his life, and was buried, according to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, in the church of Sancta Maria in the "eternal city".
The second coin is one of Ethelred, 865-71, much scarcer than the Burgred coin, made by the moneyer Manninc (and again "MANN......" can be seen across the centre of the reverse). The portrait side of the coin also exhibits the Saxon D for the letters TH as the king's name "AEDELR....." runs around the top of the coin. He was killed at the battle of Merton, 23 April 871, one of eight battles he fought that year against the Danes.

The site of the battle is unknown. Suggestions include the borders of the London Borough of Merton, Merton in Oxfordshire, Marden in Wiltshire or Martin in Dorset. The more westerly locations tend to be favoured because King Ethelred was buried in Wimborne Minster in Dorset shortly afterwards.

A further and more likely location for the battle is Merriton, on the banks of the River Stour, a few miles downstream of Wimborne, thus providing a simple journey by barge with the body of King Ethelred. The medieval manor of Merriton was situated on what is now the southern perimeter of Bournemouth (Hurn) Airport.

Given the links between the two kindoms it is perhaps not surprising that the design of the two coins is similar

William Warham

2010-02-20T19:49:00.004Z

We are all familiar with the traditional bearded image of Henry VIII as an old man and on his later coins that is how he is portrayed. However on his earlier coins he is portrayed in profile as a much younger, clean shaven man.

On this half groat (or two pence piece) minted, as the reverse tells us, in Canterbury (CIVITAS CANTOR) there are the initials W and A by the side of the shield. These letters are the mark of the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Warham (born c. 1450 and died 22 August 1532).

He was present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520, was Keeper of the Great Seal 1502-4, Lord Chancellor 1504-1515 (and was succeeded in both those posts by Cardinal Wolsey) and, as already noted, was Archbishop of Canterbury between 1503 and 1532 (and was succeeded by Thomas Cranmer).

It is said that his favourite phrase was ira principis mors est - "the King's anger is death", a very succinct comment on the time he was living in.

Archbishop Warham, c.1527, by Hans Holbein the Younger

An unlisted bronze of Saitta in Lydia

2010-02-13T14:25:00.004Z

This small (18mm diameter) bronze coin of Saitta in Lydia has been in my coin fair stock for six months and attracted very little attention from the buying public. Not an unattractive coin on one side is a female wearing a turreted crown, often referred to as Tyche or a city matron goddess, on the other is Herakles standing holding a club and the lion skin over his arm.

However, I came to catalogue it properly to list it in my online sales and was quite surprised to find it absent in all the references that I checked; Lindgren I and III, Imhoof-Blumer's Lydische Stadtmünzen, British SNG's online, Asiaminorcoins.com, ANS online collection database, or SNG Glasgow. It also does not appear to be in the ISEGRIM database.

It turns out to be a rare little coin, or so I thought, until another message board member posted an illustration of a similar coin from their collection, albeit from different dies. Still, that's only two known specimens so far!

As for it staying in my fair stock, well, maybe it will come out of there for the time being.

****Update****

I've just found out that this coin is listed and described as very rare in Mionnet's supplement volume 7 (published 1835), coin no.413, citing Sestini's record of a specimen in the Fontana collection. I never fail to be surprised how useful Mionnet's seven volume catalogue and nine volume supplement actually is.

For Sale

2010-02-12T18:00:00.002Z

Occasionally I want to have a bit of a clear out and now is one of those times. I've added a "FOR SALE" link underneath my avatar that will take you to a site that is hosting a few of my items for sale. The site holds auctions but, for the items I've listed, the prices are fixed so the price you see is the price you pay (plus postage). Payment is by PAYPAL only. All items are guaranteed genuine and as described.

A late Sestertius of Severina

2010-02-06T20:59:00.007Z

Many people incorrectly call this bronze coin of Severina an As, rather than a Sestertius which it should properly be known as. This is perhaps the last substantive issue of the Roman bronze denomination, the swansong of a denomination that limped on sporadically from this period to the coinage reform of Diocletian and Maximianus in the period 294-6 (yes, I know the original sestertii were silver). This issue was accompanied by a double Sestertius and an issue of Denarii.

Severina was the wife of the Roman emperor Aurelian (270-5), although she only appears on the later coins of the reign, after the base silver reform in c.274 AD.

As an aside this photo has been taken with the light at a different angle to previous shots of mine in that a more vertical angle, rather than transverse or oblique angle, has been used. It's produced a reasonable image of a coin with somewhat rough surfaces.

MA Thesis, "Constantine the Great: the Coins Speak

2010-02-05T07:54:00.004Z

On a numismatic message board that I visit, albeit one that I am not a regular contributor to, I came across an interesting thread where one of the members had placed a link to his recently successfully examined MA thesis from the Middle Tennessee State University.

The work on the bronze coinage of Constantine I examined the political motives behind some of the coin types chosen and their historical significance, as well as bringing in historical sources and metallurgical analyses.

Whilst one might want to debate some of the phrasing used and some of the ideas expanded I think the work has some interesting points to make and is amply illustrated to reinforce the discussions, without it becoming a picture book.

The author is to be commended for making his work so available and free of charge, I know my post graduate thesis is not available on such generous terms (although it is available from the publishers, Archaeopress, for around £30).

Yet instead of being congratulated on the message board he has been the subject of an extremely vigorous cross questioning of his ideas in what seems such an unfriendly manner, an examination much more hostile than many a research student's formal viva! Don't get me wrong, question ideas by all means but don't bite the hand that feeds. Such a shame as he is now regretting posting the link in the first place.

If you want to read what Victor Clark has to say on the coins of Constantine the Great his thesis can be downloaded HERE.

A junk box quarter thaler of 1624

2010-02-03T21:08:00.007Z

I always scour junk boxes at coin fairs, containers that hold cheap coins in bulk that are a fixed price. In one such box last weekend I came across a renaissance silver coin, 28mm in diameter and dated 1624 priced at £4.

I buy such items for the "enjoyment" of puzzling what they are and, after a little gentle cleaning, I was able to identify it as a quarter thaler of Sigismund III, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, 1587-1632. He was also ruler of Sweden between 1592-99.

The word "thaler" later got corrupted and morphed into the word "dollar", still the unit of currency in so many parts of the world.

The portrait, sadly half flat, shows the crowned king with a large ruff around his neck, fashion of the age, remember the portraits of Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh, wearing his armour and holding a vertical sword.

The Wikipedia page on Sigismund III can be found HERE.

An update……

2010-01-20T13:05:00.000Z

Oh well, the Byzantine medallion in my post of 9th December last year went unsold. You can still grab yourself a bargain as it is on offer for sale at $1,900,000!

Personally I’m not surprised that this lot did not find a buyer. Money aside it is a rather specialised item that there can’t be many potential purchasers for.

A not so mundane denarius of Marcus Aurelius

2010-01-20T13:04:00.003Z

Sometimes the most mundane of issues turns out to be far from it. Take the above coin for example, purchased from an unremarkable stock of Roman coins at a price that was, I suppose, in the buyer’s favour.

A silver denarius of Marcus Aurelius (or the Richard Harris character in the film Gladiator), it looks like it should be simple to catalogue but I could not locate this in RIC volume 3;

M ANTONINVS AVG
Laureate bust right

TRP XXXII IMP VIIII COS III PP
Salus seated left holding branch, serpent at feet to left.

Having posted an image on the FORVM message board it was Curtis Clay who came up with the explanation that this is a mule, a mixing of an incorrect pairing of dies or punches that were used to make the coin;

“The type seems to be Salus seated l., holding branch above snake coiled on ground and raising head before the goddess' knees.

Exactly that type is known:

(a) With obverse legend M ANTONINVS AVG as on your coin, but reverse legend COS III P P, RIC 425, 15 specimens in Reka Devnia hoard.

(b) With obverse legend M AVREL ANTONINVS AVG, reverse exactly as your coin, TR P XXXII IMP VIIII COS III PP, RIC 385, 58 specimens in the Reka Devnia hoard.

It is perfectly plausible that an old obverse die with legend M ANTONINVS AVG, meant to go with reverses labelled COS III P P, lasted into the next issue, when the reverses had returned to a fully dated legend.

However, judging from the sequence of the types, which I tried to work out in a diagram some twenty years ago, Marcus' TR P XXXII had already begun when the shortened obverse legend M ANTONINVS AVG was introduced, and it was in the course of that issue with the shortened obverse legend, Marcus still being TR P XXXII, that the Salus seated type was introduced.”

The two components (undated Salus with the short obverse legend / dated Salus with the long obverse legend) that make up this coin are not uncommon if the statistics of the contents of the Reka Devnia hoard are an accurate reflection of the rarity of the types. However, this would appear, on admittedly only a scant literature search, to be the first recorded example of this combination (short obverse / dated Salus reverse) of types.

Filey Roman signal station

2010-01-11T19:39:00.010Z

Whilst in Filey on the Yorkshire coast over a snowy New Years Eve 2009 I grabbed a couple of pictures of the stones excavated from the Roman signal station at Filey.

The station, built during the late fourth century AD, is an unusual, late structure from Roman Britain and was positioned on "the Brigg", a promentary being eroded by the sea and following the (last, during the 1990's?) excavation of the site five foundation stones were relocated to some ornamental gardens in the town.

As noted on the interpretation board the central stone has a carving of a dog chasing a stag running left.

This can be hard to see, even when it's right in front of you, so I've just painted around the outline in the following photograph.

There were other similar stations forming a chain on the Yorkshire coast and I've also visited the remains of the ones at Scarborough and Goldsborough. The one at Ravenscar unfortunately disappeared under the construction of Raven Hall and the one at Huntcliff sadly fell into the sea after being re-excavated during the 1960's.

Below is an artist's impression of what they might have looked like, although the (post?) holes in the foundation stones suggest that there might have been a significant amount of timber in their construction.

What recession and other musings – the case of Gemini VI

2009-12-09T12:15:00.001Z

I was sent a copy of the Gemini VI sale catalogue yesterday in “dead tree” format (excellent, you can’t beat having these in hard copy), although it is available to browse online HERE.

A good selection of Greek, Roman (imperial and provincial) coins on offer, although sadly, or perhaps fortunately, no Carausius to tempt me.

The star of the sale though, whatever your interests, has to be the Byzantine gold medallion of Tiberius II Constantine (pictured above) with an estimate of $2,500,000, and this got me thinking about the global recession and what the potential market would be for such a piece of “bling”.

Only yesterday a Rembrandt and a Raphael sold in London for a total approaching £50,000,000, the Raphael, estimated at £16 million and making £29.2 million being a record for a work on paper, demonstrating that there is still money available to invest in works of art.

I was also intrigued by the actual description of the medallion, in particular the state of preservation being described as ” Two parts of the original frame had become separated and the medallion itself had a slightly wavy surface. These have been resolved as were two very minor scrapes”. How much work has been done, when and what did it look like before? Such restoration work has provoked much comment on message boards with quite divided opinions when they have come to light in the past. I’m pleased that this work has been noted in the description and I wonder whether it really does materially affect the article’s value in either direction? Some would argue that restoration would reduce its worth while others the enhanced beauty would increase it.

I, for one, will be looking for the outcome of the Gemini sale and the result of this piece in particular. Will there be a buyer or not and at what price?

Pescennius Niger and Oliver Wendell Holmes

2009-12-08T19:51:00.003Z

The coins of Pecennius Niger, the eastern challenger to the Roman throne in AD 193, exhibit three characteristics, rarity, desirability and ugliness. One of my two examples, illustrated above certainly exhibits the latter characteristic (my other example being much worse). These features were used by Oliver Wendell Holme s in his 1872 work The Poet at the Breakfast Table which features a conversation with an entomologist:

"What a superb butterfly you have in that case! -

-O, yes, yes, well enough. These Lepidoptera are for children to play with. Give me a Coleoptera, and the kings of the Coleoptera are the beetles! -

The particular beetle he showed me was an odious black wretch that one would kick out of his path, if he did not serve him worse than that. But he looked at it as a coin collector would look at a Pescennius Niger.

-A beauty!-he exclaimed, -and the only specimen of the kind in this country, to the best of my belief. A unique, sir, and there is pleasure in exclusive posession. Not another beetle like that short of South America, sir -"

Whilst I cannot claim unique I was pleased to acquire this specimen, it being a variety not fully as the description in RIC, the closest attribution I can give is cf 23-5.

My wretched second specimen, below, is RIC 5.

Another Royal Mint quality control problem.....

2009-12-01T21:47:00.002Z

I was passed this 2008 penny on Sunday. It has a raised blob before the date. Not the first one that I've seen. I haven't picked at it to determine whether it is a die fault or whether it is the bronze surface lifting from the iron core.

New 20p problems....

2009-11-25T23:59:00.005Z

The Royal Mint do seem to be having problems with the quality control of their new coins. Besides the well popularised undated mule of old obverse and new reverse dies for the 20p there appear to be production problems.

I came across this coin in change the other day that looks to have been made from an obverse die that was breaking up or suffering from some damage that resulted in two raised lines coming down from the queen's nose.

On top of that there is evidence of die clogging on the reverse obscuring some of the raised pellets that border the shield.

Carausius medallions and a German victory

2009-11-21T17:17:00.004Z

Just added a page about the three known Carausius medallions that are all in the British Museum plus some thoughts on how they interact with the VICTORIA CARAVSI A coins.The page can be found HERE.

Gallic prototypes of Carausius

2009-11-14T19:39:00.005Z

My latest Carausius acquisition affirms my hypothesis that a number of the coin types of Carausius were inspired by those of the Gallic Empire.

This early unmarked Carausius INVICTVS with a star in the left field is clearly modelled on the coins of Victorinus.
Similarly this early Carausius PAX AVG has field marks of V and star, again mirroring Victorinus.
Indeed PAX AVG coins were very popular in the Gallic series, just as they are with Carausius, vertical sceptres for Postumus and Tetricus I, transverse sceptres for Victorinus. I think that this needs further investigation.

Carausius and Sol again

2009-11-10T23:27:00.005Z

I noted in the previous post that a British Museum specimen, purchased in 1863, could be traced to Kennedy's "Oriuna" from 1751. Here are the two illustrations of the coin - it really goes without saying that the line engraving is the one from 1751!

Jugate Carausius and Sol

2009-10-30T19:46:00.002Z

I’ve been doing a study of this jugate Sol “series” and I now think that Curtis Clay is correct in suggesting that the Hunter specimen is the one illustrated in Stukeley’s plates as I can find no reference to any other examples pairing this obverse type with this reverse legend (excepting my own example, of course).

I now have images of eleven of the twelve examples of the jugate Sol coins known to me and it is apparent that this is more than a single issue when looking at the spread of mint marks (C, CXXI and S/P//C) and the corpus is represented by four distinct obverse dies.

Five of the coins are in the British Museum (one of which, BM 1992,0635.1, must be mis-catalogued on the basis of the die links now known to me; another of the British Museum coins, BM1863,0325.4, is clearly the same specimen as the one illustrated, but not owned, by Kennedy in his “Dissertation upon Oriuna”, from 1751 ), two in the Hunter collection in Glasgow, five in private hands. I need to check the Cambridge and Oxford collections (sadly the Heberden Coin Room is undergoing a reorganisation and so is not dealing with enquiries at present) to see if they hold any further specimens.

Carausius, Stukeley and RIC 5

2009-10-09T18:57:00.011+01:00

William Stukeley was perhaps one of the earliest scholars who studied the coins of Carausius, along with Claude Genebrier, John Kennedy and Richard Gough.

The have been criticisms, sometimes valid, over the scholarship of the age, the debate over the status of the personality identified as "Oriuna" not helping put any of the protagonists in a good light.

A biographer of Stukeley wrote in 1985 that "there is little to his credit in the voluminous books of notes and drafts of Histories of Carausius that he so laboriously compiled in the later years of his life".

It is sad that when compiling the appropriate volume of Roman Imperial Coinage (the second part of volume 5 in 1933) that more attention were not paid to the plates of Stukeley from his Medallic History of Marcus Aurelius Carausius, 1757-9 (that were largely copied from Genebrier?) as some rare coins that are known today to exist make an appearence in his plates that are missing from the 1933 catalogue.

One such coin is this one from my own collection that is also illustrated as plate VII, coin 1 in the Medallic History:

Carausius 287-93AD

Antoninianus

Obv “IMP CARAVSIVS PF AVG”

Radiate bust in imperial mantle left jugate with Sol

Rev “PAX AVGVSTI”

Pax walking left holding branch and sceptre

Camulodunum mint

-/-//CXXI

RIC - (cf 341)

Sadly the idealised nature of the plates in Stukeley's work makes it impossible to know if my specimen is the one cited by Stukeley.

However, digging a little deeper what we probably have is an error on the part of Webb, the compiler of the Roman Imperial Coinage volume, and I'll explain why.

RIC 341 describes the above coin except that it says the portrait of the emperor and Sol face RIGHT, not left. He cites his own 1908 publication on the coins of Carausius and, in particular, coin 398 and again the portrait description is right. He also quotes the collection where his particular coin resides, the Hunter Collection, Glasgow University. Fortunately the Hunter collection is published (although the particular coin in question, Hunter 110, is not illustrated). We are fortunate though in that a similar coin, but with a different reverse, Hunter 109, is noted as being an obverse die duplicate of 110 and that coin is illustrated and shows the portraits to the LEFT.

It looks as though we can clear up a descriptive error in Roman Imperial Coinage with a little detective work.

Poemenius

2009-10-01T10:03:00.001+01:00

I recently came across this coin that was languishing in a junk box of sorts. I realised straight away that it was a coin of the “rebel” Poemenius, struck in the name of Constantius II. Poemenius, you ask, who’s that?

References are scant and the only extant literary reference for Poemenius is Ammianus 15.6.4: “...Poemenius was condemned as a malefactor, hailed to execution and perished; he was the man (as we have told above) who was chosen to protect his fellow-citizens when Trier closed its gates against Decentius Caesar”. Sadly the writings of Ammianus prior to 353 are lost and we can only wonder what else could be learned if that part of the text remained.

At the time of the civil war between Constantius II and the western usurper Magnentius, the imperial administration was based at Trier. However, the real centre of military power was on the frontier at Cologne and Mainz, leaving the former relatively undefended in the case of attack. By spring, 352 the Trier region was suffering attacks from Germans who had been prompted by Constantius to attack his rival’s centre of power. Poemenius, for whatever reason the most important man left inside the walls of the city, during the resistance to the barbarians had seemingly declared for Constantius – prompting Magnentius’ brother, Decentius, to besiege the town. The rare series of hybrid coins honouring Constantius on the obverse and using the chi-rho type of Magnentius on the reverse were all struck in Trier and are therefore presumed to be a product of Poemenius’ counter-rebellion. The fate of Poemenius is known and Ammianus notes that he was executed after his stand against Magnentius. The period of the revolt was brief, probably lasting a little over one month in the middle of 353.

My example of this scarce issue has been cut down, removing most of the obverse and reverse legends. It has been done in such a way as to preserve the religious symbol, the chi-rho, on the reverse and may have been to mount the coin as a religious pendant.

Although the legends have been largely removed it is possible to identify the portrait as being that of Constantius, rather than Magnentius or Decentius as there is a diadem, only present on the coins of Constantius.

My sad world.........

2009-08-17T20:39:00.003+01:00

Welcome to my sad world!!!!!!

Whilst I was in Filey I happened to notice my first 2009 coin in circulation on Saturday 15th August; a penny.

Bronze age archaeology in action

2009-08-17T20:11:00.004+01:00

Ferriby boat replica puts to sea with Filey Brigg in the background where a late Roman signal station was located

I was at Filey this weekend on the east coast of Yorkshire. There were a series of events to raise money for the RNLI and Filey lifeboat and one of these events included putting to sea a half size replica of one of the Bronze Age "Ferriby Boats".

The Ferriby boat replica, cutting edge Bronze Age technology, with the Filey lifeboat behind, cutting edge modern technology

The Ferriby Boats are three sewn plank-built boats, parts of which were discovered at in the East Riding of the county of Yorkshire. Only a small number of boats of a similar period have been found in Britain and the Ferriby examples are the earliest known boats to be found in Europe. The crew said she was good in the water but a little heavy to manoeuvre.

For more information on the Bronze Age boats go to http://www.ferribyboats.co.uk/

Edward Jekyll - a bookplate traced

2009-07-03T17:01:00.015+01:00

I bought the two volumes of the "Coin Collectors Manual", 1853, by Humphreys years ago when I was just beginning to develop an interest in numismatic literature. Looking at the price paid, £20 in 1990, it was probably too much.

Inside each one there is a name inscribed in black ink plus a bookplate with the name Edward Jekyll. Curiously this is the name of the doctor in Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 book "The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde" - but more of that later.

I searched Edward Jekyll on the internet and came up with such a name related to Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932). She an influential British garden designer, writer, and artist who created over 400 in the UK, Europe and the USA.

Then I came upon a link to an excellent family history website about the Archers, the Goodmans and Associated Families who included the Jekylls. On the page of Jekylls, including Gertrude Jekyll, is reproduced the crest from the bookplate - I had been fortunate enough to track down the right family.

So which Edward Jekyll is it? I'm not sure. It must be either Captain Edward Joseph Hill Jekyll (6 Feb 1804 - 26 Mar 1876) of the Grenadier Guards, father of Gertrude, or his son Captain Edward Joseph Jekyll (18 Aug 1839 - 3 Mar 1921) of the 64th foot, and therefore Getrude's brother. Looking at the membership of the Royal Numismatic Society does not help narrow this search down as the name does not appear to be present on any of the membership lists sadly.

So where is the connection to the horror story? Well Edward jr. and Gertrude had a younger brother, Rev Walter Jekyll, who was a friend of Stevenson and who borrowed the family name for the main character in the book.

What's so bad about firemen?

2009-06-17T21:05:00.003+01:00

In book 10 of Pliny's letters, that is the volume that charts the correspondence between him (as a special imperial delegate in Bithynia) and the emperor Trajan, there is a rather intriguing exchange.

In letter 33 Pliny informs the emperor of a serious fire that broke out in Nicomedia that detroyed many houses plus two public buildings, the Elder Citizens Club and the Temple of Isis. He suggests that he might form a company of firement, numbering about 150 or so also noting that any privileges granted would be monitored and not abused.

Trajan's reply is very suspicious, saying that although is it a reasonable idea it is groups or societies like those that have been responsible for political unrest within the province. "If people assemble for a common purpose, whatever name we give them and for whatever reason, they soon turn into a political club. It is a better policy then to provide the equipment necessary for dealing with fires, and to instruct property owners to make use of it, calling on the help of the crowds which collect if they find it necessary."

The Doors of the Temple of Janus are shut.

2009-06-13T14:52:00.008+01:00

Nero 54-68 AD

AE as

Obv "NERO CAESAR AVG GERM IMP"

Bare bust right

Rev "PACE P R VBIQ PARTA IANVM CLVSIT SC"

Temple of Janus with doors closed

Rome mint

RIC 306

There is a series of well known sestertii, dopondii and asses issued by Nero that show the Temple of Janus with closed doors. It is also widely known that the closing of the door was symbolic of peace throughout the Roman Empire. But, what is not widely known is why the doors being shut came to represent peace........

Hill's Monuments of Rome as Coin Types (1989) offers some suggestions as to where the temple was located but does not provide an answer to our question. Similarly Stevenson's Dictionary of Roman Coins (1889) can offer us that Livy tells us that the doors were mostly open, in fact were shut only once, from the foundation of Rome to the battle of Actium, but again not why they should be shut. Suetonius reckons that Nero's closing was the third occasion on which the doors were shut.

The answer, however, does appear in Donaldson's Architectura Numismatica (1859). In it he tells us that, according to legend, the original Temple of Janus was built by either Quirinus or Romulus. He notes that, according to the ancient writer Macrobius, during the Sabine wars the enemy were rushing into Rome through the Porta Janualis when they were overwhelmed by a vast torrent of boiling water which impetuously flowed from the Temple of Janus. From then it was decreed that as Janus had come to their help during a time of war the doors should remain open.

A handful of spits

2009-06-06T15:30:00.006+01:00

Ionia - Klazomenai
AR obol

c.520-480 BC

Forepart of a winged boar right

Quadripartite incuse square

When I first read that in Seaford's "Money and the Early Greek Mind" I have to admit I had the wrong end of the stick! I now know the "spits" referred to were made of iron and were of the type used for roasting meat.

You see a "spit", or "obelos", gave its name to the small Greek silver coin we know as the obol. Given that small change could be carried in the mouth then my misunderstanding was, I think, excusable.

The term "drachma" means handful, particularly six (as noted by Aristotle, for example), and so we get "obeliskon drachmai" - a handful of spits - being used in temple inventories and inscriptions. These must be referring to bundles of iron rods, not the grudging payment in the hand of small silver coins. It was only later that these two terms began to have a specific reference to money.

Ancus Marcius

2009-05-29T13:08:00.003+01:00

One of the coins in my posting about the Aqua Marcia featured on the obverse a portrait of Ancus Marcius. The coin is reposted above and I just wanted expand a little on who he was.

He was, traditionally, the fourth king of Rome, 642-616 BC; Romulus, Numa Pompilius (the maternal grandfather of Ancus Marcius) and Tullus Hostilius preceeding him.

The concept of a 'just' war is ascribed to Marcius. In a ritual, still practiced in a modified fashion in the second century AD, war was formally declared on another country only after a Roman priest had visited the territory, calling on each person he met and Jupiter himself, to witness that satisfaction was demanded in the name of religion and justice.

He also built an early prison, which was founded in around 625 BC, and was used to hold people until it was decided what to do with them or unishments they should serve. Before this time a popular punishment was to simply exile people.

Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, 616-579 BC, succeeded him as king. Well respected he was adopted by Ancus Marcius as his son, also appointing him guardian of his other sons. After the death of Ancus Marcius, Tarquinius Priscus was able to convince the People's Assembly that he should be elected king over Marcius' natural sons.

So where was/is Abila?

2009-05-21T11:05:00.004+01:00

A pertinent question I thought. Abila is now known as Tel Abil and it is located to the east of lake Tiberias (the Sea of Galilee), some way north of Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem) and the Dead Sea.

It possibly formed part of an unofficial alliance of 'ten cities' from around the time of Pompey, although just how loose this grouping is can be witnessed from the disagreement over which ten cities actually constituted the Decapolis.

Pliny the Elder lists Damascus, Canatha, Scythopolis, Pella, Gadara, Hippus, Dium, Philadelphia, Gerasa and Raphana - but not Abila! An inscription dating to 133/4 AD however names the city 'Abila of the Decapolis'.

An unpublished coin of Abila?

2009-05-19T18:16:00.000+01:00

FORVM recently offered this unidentified coin for sale. Given that there was enough of the obverse legend to identify it as a coin of Geta Caesar and there was a substantial amount of the reverse legend visible I figured it must be worth the $22 they were asking as it ought to be identifiable.

The left hand side of the reverse clearly reads SELEVKI in Greek letters, whilst the right reads A ABIL.... It has to be a coin of Abila in the Arabian Decapolis.

The only problem is that there is no coin of Geta listed in the appropriate British Museum Catalogue of Greek Coins for the region, nor is it listed in Spijkerman 'The Coins of the Decapolis and Provincia Arabia'. Lindgren I and III list no such con and neither do the British SNG volumes. It is also not represented in the American Numismatic Society SNG volume.

It would appear that this is a new coin of Abila, previously unrecorded.

Brother six character holed cash......

2009-05-18T20:39:00.005+01:00

"Brother Six Character Holed Cash

Old and young, poor and rich fight for it.

If in the government offices there is no justice,

And in the monasteries there is no unselfishness,

By holding it finally one can move the hearts.

Stinky brass makes the kowtow - cratures very busy,

Be it in business or begging.

By the Skinny Taoist

Painted to remember Ch'en Lao-lien

By Sung-Shan Ping"

The frontispiece from Burger's 'Chinese Cash until 1735'.

I used to actively collect the cast cash coins of China and was smitten by Burger's book, not only for the wealth of detail it contained about being able to attribute the undated cast cash coins to a year, but also for its fine tissue fold out plates, wood block engravings and hand corrections/annotations.

Procurator Monetae and the Gallic Empire

2009-05-08T13:14:00.006+01:00

I've just been re-reading Michael Peachin's paper about the post of procurator monetae (PM) in the 1986 Numismatic Chronicle. In it he catalogues the names of the post holders, where known and tries to put them into a chronological context.

It is suggested that within the Roman minting system there was only a single PM until the fourth century AD, even though there were a number of provincial mints striking Roman coins by the third century.

An inscription is recorded from Rome that lists an un-named individual as having the titles:

praefectus alae Indianae
praefectus vehiculorum per Gallias
procurator monetae Trivericae
praeses provinciae Germaniae superioris

The interesting title is the third one, PM Trivericae, procurator at Trier, a provincial mint! Is this the Gallic Empire mint or the mint of Diocletian and his later colleagues?

It is suggested that this is the Gallic mint because the post holder was praeses of Germania Superior, a province that changed name to Germania Prima around the Diocletianic reform, c.294-6. There is a slight chance that, as Trier was operating as a mint briefly before the Diocletianic reform, that the inscription is late rather than mid to late third century.

If this is the Gallic Empire minto official, because he is the procurator of the mint at Trier it suggests that Trier was the primary mint. Also, given the pardon of Tetricus and his son it would appear that the officials of the Gallic regime may have had a rehabilitation as this officer's career continues at a high level after the fall of the Gallic regime and is reference on an inscription from Rome itself, rather than the provinces.

The Aqua Marcia

2009-05-04T16:22:00.013+01:00

The water supply that maintained Rome was an important part of city life. Eleven aqueducts supplied the city of which the Aqua Marcia was the longest. Purportedly paid for out of the spoils of the Punic wars, including the defeat of Carthage, plus also the conquest of Corinth and was constructed, or perhaps restored, between 144 and 140 BC by the Praetor Quintus Marcius Rex.

The ancient source for the aqueduct was near the modern towns of Arsoli and Agosta, over 91 km away in the Anio valley.

Given that water supply was so critical to the survival of the city it is not surprising that the Aqua Marcia and other aqueducts are feature on the Roman coins. Two such coins are featured in my own collection.

Mn Aemilio Lep c.114/3 BC
AR denarius
Obv "ROMA"
Female bust (Roma?) right
Rev "MN AEMILIO LEP"
Equestrian statue on the Aqua Marcia
Rome mint
Crawford 291

The attribution of the aqueduct is undoubtedly the Aqua Marcia as although it was finished by Marcius Rex it was begun by M. Aemilius Lepidus (the ancestor of the moneyer of this issue) and M. Fulvius Nobilior who were both Censors on 179 BC. It has been suggested that the three arches potrayed on this coin are those carrying the aqueduct across the Via Praenestina.

L Marcius Pilippus c.56 BC
AR denarius
Obv "ANCVS"
Diademed head of Ancus Marcius right
Rev "PHILIPPVS AQVA MR"
Equestrian statue on the Aqua Marcia aqueduct
Rome mint
Crawford 425

An interesting coin that shows, on one side, a portrait of the fourth king of Rome, Ancus Marcius, with an equestrian statue, perhaps of Q. Marcius Rex. There are some problems with associating the stature with Marcius Rex as there is no record of his statues in Rome ever being equestrian. But a statue of him was erected in Rome on the Capitol, where the aqueduct eventually arrived in the city, so this reverse probably does represent that monument.

Carausius and his brothers

2009-04-30T12:40:00.000+01:00

People suggest that the arrangement of the three emperors on the CARAVSIVS ET FRATRES SVI coinage shows a deference to Diocletian in that he is central and flanked by his junior colleagues Maximianus and Carausius. This seems reasonable as Carausius may have been trying to build bridges with the legitimate emperors of the time.

The same may not be strictly true of the Romano-British coins that feature the rulers separatley in that there is a differentiation in the bust styles between Carauius and his two "brothers".

Carausius is usually portayed with a draped and cuirassed bust,

whilst Diocletian and Maximianus are usually cuirassed only, perhaps suggesting the seniority of Carausius, in the British isles at least.

It is by no means an exclusive division of the portraiture but it does appear to have been the normal way.

This looks as if it may be an extension of the convention from earlier times when caesars were bare headed whilst the emperor was depicted laureate. Similarly in the third century when the radiate crown became the usual way of portraying the male personalities on antoniniani the caesars were differentiated frequently by being represented by a draped bust whereas the emperor was draped and cuirassed.

You can't prove anything.....

2009-04-23T12:00:00.000+01:00

Isn’t it always the case when a catalogue is published that new specimens are found straight away as people begin to use it. I’m in the process of updating a catalogue for a particular series of the coins of Carausius and whilst I am checking against significant public and private collections I know new ones will turn up after it is published.

It’s because we’re dealing with an unknown total population. We know what does exist and we may predict what should exist but we don’t know what could exist. We’re dealing with a sample population and therefore we cannot, for certain, prove a hypothesis, only disprove it. I can’t remember my lectures so well but it may be called deductive reasoning (or possibly inductive reasoning).

The example I was given at university, a number of years ago now, was that we could come up with a hypothesis “all swans are white”. We can test this by observation and indeed the hypothesis will hold true until the first black swan is observed.

An example in the coin world is could be the Gallic usurpers. In the 19th century the hypothesis “the Gallic usurpers that issued coins are Postumus, Laelianus, Marius, Victorinus, plus Tetricus I and II” was thought to be true. There was no indication that it was not and all the data from hoards and site finds corroborated it. In 1900 we finally knew with certainty that the hypothesis was not true because a coin of Domitianus II was found. So, we now include him in the hypothesis of the list of Gallic usurpers that issued coins which we will only know for certain not to be true when a new usurper is found. As we are dealing with an unknown total population the hypothesis itself can never be proved true.

Karl Becker, 1772 - 1820

2009-04-20T20:06:00.002+01:00

Perhaps one of the most famous ancient coin forgers of the last couple of hundred years is Karl Becker who is known to have produced coin dies for well over 300 coin types. Whilst many were for the Roman series, in particular the gold aurei, he also produced dies for Greek and mediaeval European coins.

In his day, before the accurate reproduction of coins by photography, many of his coins succeded in deceiving collectors and curators of collections. However, in modern times with the accurate photographs of legitimate coins being able to be compared with Becker's actual dies, many of which are kept in the Berlin cabinet, he does not really confuse the experienced numismatist.

His career seems to have taken a number of paths, for example, by 1795 he was established as a wine merchant and from 1798 to 1802/3 he was in business in Mannheim as a draper.

There is a tale reproduced in Hill's biography of Becker that early in the 19th century he was sold a false gold coin of Commodus. When he discovered that it was false he tried to return the coin only to be told that it served him right for meddling in things he didn't understand. This may have been the catalyst for Becker to learn the art of die cutting so that he may take revenge on the fraudster which he eventually did.

Numismatic Reference Books

2009-04-19T15:43:00.000+01:00

For the last 18 months I have been standing at coin fairs selling antiquarian, second hand and out of print numismatic books and what has struck me is the reluctance of people to actually buy many of these works.

I can understand that going to a fair you might be more drawn to a new coin purchase, history in the hand as it were, and for the price on some of the books the coin might, at first, appear better value but without the books you are buying blind.

What governs the price of numismatic references? I suppose new ones the amount of work that has gone into the publication, the research and knowledge it contains, the fact that many works aren’t big sellers so set up and print runs are more expensive per unit cost and so on.

Why should a second hand numismatic book cost so much? Again it must be judged on the knowledge/information it contains, is it available elsewhere or is the work the reference for the series, how many people want it and how many are available to meet that supply, given that above we have already acknowledged that some of the references are in extremely short print runs and there may not be an alternative reference for the series. That is always then assuming that it is not an antiquarian book.

The long and the short of it is that many of the most detailed and up to date resources are expensive, but also specialist, and many of the "normal", general, collectors are not willing to pay out significant amounts of money for them.

It depends ultimately how detailed, I suppose, that you want to document, record and understand the coins in your own collection as to how much you will pay for specific references.

Jigsaws; don't you just hate it when........

2009-04-18T07:33:00.001+01:00

Just set about doing my 103 piece double sided jigsaw of the Charles II "petition crown" that has been published by the London coin dealers Spink & Son. I got to the end (well really just past the beginning) to find that one piece of the border was missing at the top!

Of the 14 "petition crowns" that are known to exist only three are in private hands, nine are in museums and two are unaccounted for.

The coin they have used is the specimen owned by Geoffrey Cope, the finest known example. He is the collector who has also lent an absolutely superb example of the EXERC BRITANNICVS coin of Hadrian to the British Museum.

There is also an absolutely superb sestertius of Agripina Senior in his collection.

Numismatic biography on Wikipedia

2009-04-15T08:31:00.000+01:00

I have spent more than my fair share of travelling of late and indeed I am currently on a train as I type this meagre post. There are, I have discovered, a number of numismatic, or associated, biographies on Wikipedia. Some are merely stubs but others offer quite an insight into the lives of people, the only knowledge of which we normally have is through their published works:

Philip Grierson (largely sourced from interviews printed in Spink's Numismatic Circular)

Lord Grantley (very brief)

Lord Stewartby (very brief)

Joseph Pellerin

John Watts de Peyster Wrote an interesting monograph on Carausius and is, perhaps, more of a historian than numismatist

Joseph Hilarius Eckhel

Henri Cohen

William Henry Waddington

William Stukeley

William Hunter

Laurie Bamford A wonderfully colourful sketch of a collector of British coins, beer enthusiast and singer in a punk band. A worthy wiki biog and one that I would have been proud of.

Sir John Evans

Max von Bahrfeldt

Ya'kov Meshorer

Jean-Jacques Barthelemy

There are probably others and I hope that this encourages some of you to explore further.

Venuti

2009-04-10T15:12:00.004+01:00

I have done a little digging to find out a little more about the work of Venuti, cited in Akerman's letter, posted yesterday.

Rudolfino Venuti (1705-63) was working in the mid 18th century, some 100 years prior to Akerman. Bassoli's book on the Antiquarian Books on Coins and Medals from the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Century (2001) states that:

"Rudolfino Venuti richly illustrated the medal collection of Cardinal Albini in 1744 (which later passed to the Vatican Library and was opened to the public by Clement XII). The work also included Benedict XIV's additions, and the great classical and modern collection of Cardinal Carpegna."

Sadly his work does not seem to have been scanned onto Google Print, although there seem to be plenty of references to it cited.

John Yonge Akerman

2009-04-09T07:10:00.003+01:00

John Yonge Akerman helped in 1836, partly at his own expense, to found the Numismatic Journal, the precursor to the Numismatic Chronicle, a periodical that continues today.

He also published a number of numismatic reference works, including Descriptive Catalogue of Rare and Unedited Roman Coins (1834), Coins of the Romans relating to Britain (editions in 1836, 1842 and 1844) and Numismatic Manual (editions in 1832 and 1840) .

His books are not rare and I have copies of all the above, including both editions of the Numismatic Manual but my 1840 is rather special to me for tipped inside is a handwritten letter from Akerman on paper impressed with the Society of Antiquaries stamp.

"Sir,

I am favoured with your note of the 27th instant. I never entered upon the subject of the Papal medals, but you will see them engraved and described in Venuti, a Quarto work, easily obtainable.

I am, Sir,

Very faithfully yours,

J Y Akerman

Soc. Ant. Lond.

29. Nov. 1848.

I have not a copy of Venuti or I would with pleasure lend it."

Saloninus Augustus

2009-04-08T07:10:00.003+01:00

The corpus of coins of Saloninus as Augustus is small (not to be confused with his relatively abundant coinage as Caesar), by the latest count it is approximately 50 coins; on gold quinarius and the remainder being base silver antoniniani. In terms of the numbers known this puts his coinage as emperor into the same ball park as Pacatian!

The antoniniani are known in two reverse types, SPES PVBLICA, a type that makes up about 80% of the known types and the significantly rare FELICITAS AVGG that makes up the remainder (pictured above).

The coins known of him are increasing and it was suggested that this is because a number are going unreported or misdescribed as finds or in collections, they being similar to the coins of Valerian II Caesar and even bearing the name Valerianus, (IMP SALON VALERIANVS CAES). That was the case with my specimen (above), languishing in a dealer’s stock for I don’t know how many months, identified and overpriced as a Valerian II but and absolute bargain as Saloninus Augustus.

What are the circumstances of the issue? It is clear from the style the coin is from the imperial Gallic mint, the location of which is uncertain but I favour Trier, an establishment that continued under the Gallic usurpers.

It appears that Gallienus left Gaul for Milan where he established the mobile field army, the equites, around 259/60 leaving Saloninus Caesar in the west. Either as a response to the capture of Valerian, the perceived abandonment of the west during a period of strife, combined with disquiet in the legionary ranks and machinations by Postumus the raising of Saloninus may have been a response to some or all of these factors. What is certain is that he was soon besiged and deposed by forces loyal to Postumus and his very brief reign, not acknowledged on coins from any other mint, came to an end.

Mithradates of Bosporus

2009-04-07T20:31:00.011+01:00

I normally inhabit the forum website (link right) but I didn't know quite where I would post this coin on their site as it doesn't fit my current gallery arrangement, nor does it go comfortably into one of the message boards.

It is a bronze coin, a 12 nummia piece, of Mithradates from the Bosporus who ruled for four years from 41-45 AD.

The reverse type shows a lion skin draped over a club in some allusion to Hercules having slain the Nemean lion. To the right is a trident and the left a bow case. Mithradates was the son of Aspurgus and Dynamis and after the death of Caius (Caligula) he was recognised by the Romans as King of Bosporus, c.41 AD. Four years later he was deposed by his half bother, Kotys (45-c.63 AD), after being accused of plotting to overthrow Claudius.

Claudius had withdrawn the Roman garrison under Aulus Didius Gallus from the Bosporan Kingdom and a few Roman cohorts were left with the Roman Knight Gaius Julius Aquila in the Bosporan.

Mithridates despised the situation. He mistrusted Kotys and attempted to regain his throne. Mithridates was able to entice the leaders of the local tribes and deserters into his allies. He was able to seize control of the local tribes and collect an army to declare was on Kotys and Aquila. When Kotys and Aquila heard news of this war, they feared that the invasion was imminent. However, both men knew they had the support of Claudius. Mithridates with his army, engaged in war with Kotys’ army and Aquila’s battalions, in a three-day war, which Kotys and Aquila won unscathed and triumphant at the Don River (this river is now situated in modern Russia).

Mithridates knew that resistance was hopeless and considered an appeal to Claudius. Mithridates turned to a local tribesman called Eunones, to help him. Eunones, sent envoys to Rome to Claudius with a letter from Mithridates.

In Mithridates’ letter to the Emperor, Mithridates greeted and addressed him with great honor and respect from one ruler to another ruler. Mithridates asked Claudius for a pardon and to be spared from a triumphal procession or capital punishment. Claudius wasn’t sure how to punish and deal with Mithridates. Mithridates was captured and brought to Rome as a prisoner. He was displayed as a public figure beside the platform in the Roman Forum along with his guards and his expression remained undoubted.

Claudius was impressed with Mithridates’ mercy from his letter and allowed Mithridates to live. He was spared from any capital punishment and was exiled. Mithridates lived as a destitute exiled monarch until his death. He never married nor had children.

Above is a coin, another 12 nummia piece, of Kotys featuring the Roman emperor Claudius on the obverse and on the reverse a portrait of Agrippina Junior.

Agrippina Junior married Claudius in 49 AD and she also happened to be his neice. Twenty-six years younger than Claudius she had been previously married to Cn Domitius Ahenobarbus and bore him a son, the future emperor Nero. Claudius is believed to have been poisoned by Agrippina in 54 AD in order to make way for her son who, in turn, had her murdered in 59 AD.

Coins as dating evidence

2009-04-07T08:33:00.006+01:00

As mentioned yesterday the opening presentation at the BANS Congress in Scarborough was a lively presentation from an archaeologist, Simon Tomson, not a numismatist, on dating techniques and the uses of coins in dating sites.

That took me back some years to when I was dealing with the dating problems of Gallic Empire coin hoards. Many seem to terminate in 274, the date of the last official coins of Tetricus I and II, however, many such hoards a probably buried after that date, but they just don’t contain the coins of the official rulers post Gallic Empire.

Uncleaned Victorinus coins from the Wherstead hoard

By way of an example I cleaned and recorded a coin hoard from Wherstead in Suffolk about five years ago. The find contained 1,026 coins, mainly of the Gallic rulers Victorinus and the Tetrici (plus local imitations) but also a fair number of coins of Gallienus and Claudius II. There was only a single coin of Probus, an example from the Lyon mint, that was able to push the date of the hoard to at least 279 using Bastien’s dating. In more than 1,000 coins the earliest date of the deposit of the last coin rested on a single specimen. But for that coin this hoard would be another “274” deposit. The theory used to be that the coins of the emperors Aurelian through to Diocletian's reform did not reach northern France and Britain, a situation that may not have actually been the case given the large, unpublished, Gloucester hoard from the 1950's that contained many such coins.

This is by no means an isolated example of this phenomenon when you go through the Coin Hoards of Roman Britain volumes and what it stresses is that whilst it is important to be able to correctly identify a coin or group of coins to gain any real understanding of the find you have to know something about how they circulated and how they were hoarded.

Mauseus

BANS Congress 2009, Scarborough

2009-04-06T12:11:00.001+01:00

I’ve just returned from the British Association of Numismatic Societies (BANS) Spring Congress at the coastal town of Scarborough. I hadn’t been to one of these events for ten years, nor a local society meeting for about two and I now know why.

The weekend started off promisingly enough with a lively presentation on coins used for dating in archaeological contexts, marred only by a pedantic correction of Valens' regnal years from the audience.

The presentations on the following two days were mixed. The high points included a very good presentation on the numismatic aspects on three naval battles, Actium, Lepanto and the Nile, the quality to be expected not least because the lecturer was also engaged in giving similar talks on cruise ships sailing around the Med. Similarly I gained something from lectures on the Ostrogoths, Northumbrian sceattas and the pennies of Stephen and the anarchy.

Other presentations left something to be desired. A potentially interesting talk on the bust types of Ellizabethan shillings would have benefited from a more up-beat delivery combined with a handout of the comparative types with characteristics and their periods of use, rather than just scrolling through slide after slide of the coins.

The nadir came with a presentation on evidence of self identity on early Roman imperial coins. The images on the slides were small and very difficult to make out, even sitting at the front and would have greatly benefited from being a Powerpoint presentation rather than being done on 2x2 slides.

A final plea, if Powerpoint had been the method of delivery a permanent CD of the talks could have been distributed among the seventy delegates as a permanent reminder of the proceedings.

Mauseus

A brief introduction.....

2009-04-06T12:08:00.000+01:00

Hi,

Welcome to my numismatic blog with my (hopefully) frequent and interesting jottings – how many must start with those intentions? I’m not going to make it daily updates but I want to make it at least weekly.

The subjects covered will probably be aimed at ancient numismatics but the borders are not rigid and I know I’ll cut off at tangents.

Mauseus