The type specimen for Carausius RIC 914

Whilst reconciling old coin tickets I have for coins from the Blackmoor hoard sales with the two sale catalogues (both referenced in the catalogues section of the bibliography page on my Carausius and Allectus website, see the links left) I realised that I have the type specimen for Webb’s 1933 RIC listing of RIC 914.

My coin, described as IMP CARAVSIVS PF A, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, PAX AVG, Pax (or Fides?) standing left with two standards has a ticket that notes it was part of lot 285 in the Christie’s 1975 sale. The lot is described as 20 Pax coins with various other attributes (RIC 907ff).

Looking at the RIC volume Webb notes in the “Authority” column that it is W. 1015, ie cited from his 1908 publication, The Coins of Carausius (reprinted as a monograph from the 1907 Numismatic Chronicle.

So, turning to the Webb book I flip to the entry and Webb’s “Authorities” column reads Selborne. The 1873 Blackmoor hoard was owned by Lord Selborne, having being discovered mid way between Blackmoor House and Woolmer Pond on his land. Thus, the specimen cited by Webb in both Coins of Carausius and RIC is the Blackmoor coin, and, consulting Roger Bland's Coin Hoards of Roman Britain III, there was only a single specimen in the catalogue, number 20448.

Curiously Bland describes the coin as RIC 913var. Although he does not explain what difference he thinks he has seen from the RIC description. Looking at the die axis of approximately 45 degrees from the vertical demonstrates it is the same specimen

The 1879 Beachy Head hoard

I recently picked up a small pamphlet or off-print, the source of which is unclear that relates to a third century coin find from Roman Britain. It details the gift of some 148 coins from a hoard from July 1879 to the Brighton Free Library and Museum by the Duke of Devonshire.

The find spot is noted as near Eastbourne in Sussex and, given the year and detailed listing I thought it should be easy to track down some further details. A quick search of Robertson’s Inventory of Romano-British Coin Hoards (IRBCH).

Sure enough it didn’t take that much looking up.  Entry number 728 identifies it as one of the six coin hoards recorded as being from the vicinity of Beachy Head, the two most well known being the 1961 and 1973 finds.

The find of around 680 coins was published in Sussex Archaeological Collections 31 (1881) by T Calvert. He notes that they were discovered between Beachy Head and Birling Gap by a group of men digging flint. About two feet down the container was struck by a pick causing the coins to spill out. The Reigns represented are from Valerian to Aurelian and Postumus through to Tetricus II. In the same journal Charles Roach-Smith summarised the Duke’s gift to the museum.

There does seem to be a little bit of uncertainty around the actual year of discovery as a brief report in the Archaeological Journal for 1879 ascribes 1878 as the year of discovery, although this does seem to go against the other documented sources.

Calvert, in his 1881 note, makes the unsupported suggestion that the continental army of Tetricus I that was finally defeated at Chalons by the forces of Aurelian in AD 274 was largely comprised of natives recruited in Britain. He goes on “What was more natural, therefore, than a Sussex man should return, when a fugitive, to his native downs, and there place in security his hardly earned treasure”.

Roger Bland, when documenting the 1973 Beachy Head hoard (Numismatic Chronicle, 1979), makes reference to all six finds of radiates from the vicinity including this one (ie 1879,  1899, 1914, 1961, 1964 and 1973). He concludes that the latest three hoards are probably related as they were found within 20 yards of each other and showed similarities or complimentary features in their composition. The same cannot be said for the three older finds, the exact find spots not being recorded. Also the 1899 and 1914 hoards terminate with coins of Probus, unlike the 1960s onwards hoards that end with Aurelian. He curiously speculates that the 1879 also might have ended with Probus, although there is nothing in the contemporary accounts to agree with this hypothesis.