borispriva
Elite Member
- Joined
- May 15, 2012
- Messages
- 518
Before I start part two of my story - I have to ask my English colleagues to not hesitate to point to my possible mistakes.
I’m not - in any sense – an expert on English coinage and history, so I will really appreciate your input.
Well, it was March, a spring time.
New leaves, flowers and animals were all over the place. The hares (the big ones) and foxes were common site.
We were in the middle of the hunting season – so we heard shots fired all over the place, sometimes very close (not a good feeling!) and escaped pheasants and quails crossed our routes several times per day.
English countryside is beautiful and full of history. This house was originally built in 1600 and expanded later. You can clearly see three stages of expansion here.
Day two brought in some Roman coins.
Before we talk about it let’s talk about coin history of the Island.
First coin were minted there in 80 BC by Celtic tribes, they were called Potins and mimic the Greek coins. They were very poorly made of cast bronze. Design was primitive to say the least.
But – by 55BC they were replaced with astonishingly beautiful gold and silver Celtic Staters.
These are my favorite coins and they are a real piece of art.
Here is the stock picture.
Then – from 43AD and up to 450AD it was all about the Romans – cooper, silver and gold.
After Romans left the local tribes went back to barter, but by 600AD Vikings came in and brought their coinage with them.
Next will be Anglo-Saxons coins – from 650AD and up. The most common ones are the silver Sceattas (we found four of them, but we will talk about that later).
By 755AD Englishmen started hammered first pennies, but they start using penny through the country as a common currency only twenty years later - in 975AD.
After that it was endless chain of different kings and queens and designs.
First milled coins were introduced in 1561-1571. We found them too and I will show you some later.
Now - back to Roman coins.
When I dug my first one I was just speechless for a while – I was holding this little piece of bronze in my hand and it was – at least – seventeen hundred years old and - possibly - up to two thousand!
I do not know about you – but for me it was amazing.
And still is.
Roman silver is rare, but bronze are plenty. Of course after 2000 years under the ground most of coins are not in a good shape.
Here are mine – I have couple of Emperors and one Empresses. You can see the busts, some lettering and can recognize soldiers and eagles on the reverse, but – generally – they are not in a good shape most of the time.
Of course – there are some exceptions.
Let me show you two coins found on this trip.
They are damaged, but very legible.
I’m not even trying to give you exact names of the rulers, it is possible, but they are so numerous, that I just don’t want to step into this water.
I also have to say sorry for the quality of some of my pictures: it was taken with an iPhone "in the field".
Most of the Roman coins we found were bronze, we found one silver denarius, but it was hit by plow ("plough" in British) and overall was in pretty poor condition, so – no picture.
My personal favorite among the coin we found were minims, smallest Roman coins, actually smallest coins I ever hold in my hands.
Look at this one – it’s sitting on the top of memorial penny.
I hope you can see Emperor’s bust looking right and some lettering at 12 o’clock.
I’m seriously questioning the size of those coins. At that time – 2000 years ago - people don’t even have pockets in their closing, so from mine point of view the coins of this size were hammered for one and only purpose – to be lost.
Since we started talking about closing I have to mention another one of my Roman finds – bronze fibula.
Fibulae are brooches (originally - safety pins) that were made popular in Britan by Roman military campaigns. They all consist of a body, a pin, and a catch.
Fibulae are one of the most commonly found objects in UK.
They range from very primitive (usually bronze once) used by poor up to jewelry like gold pieces, worn by rich.
Romans used them to keep two pieces of fabrics together on the shoulders. This picture will give you a good idea why they became the brooches later on – they were highly visible and just asked to be decorated.
This is a bronze fibula in a good shape (stock photo).
Here is mine – as you can see after thousand years underground corrosion took some pieces off it, but you can still see some elements of original design and the grove where the pin once sit.
Another good bronze Roman find was this piece of leg of three legged pot. The legs were often made in form of lion’s paws (you can clearly see the claw on this one).
The complete pot looks similar to this one.
Last thing I have to mention - fragments of “red” Roman ceramic are plentiful on those fields. They are usually orange-red with leftovers of simple decoration.
Here is the picture of couple of them plus two more modern (XVIII century?) pieces of dishes at the bottom.
Well – that’s it for today.
To be continued.
I’m not - in any sense – an expert on English coinage and history, so I will really appreciate your input.
Well, it was March, a spring time.
New leaves, flowers and animals were all over the place. The hares (the big ones) and foxes were common site.
We were in the middle of the hunting season – so we heard shots fired all over the place, sometimes very close (not a good feeling!) and escaped pheasants and quails crossed our routes several times per day.
English countryside is beautiful and full of history. This house was originally built in 1600 and expanded later. You can clearly see three stages of expansion here.
Day two brought in some Roman coins.
Before we talk about it let’s talk about coin history of the Island.
First coin were minted there in 80 BC by Celtic tribes, they were called Potins and mimic the Greek coins. They were very poorly made of cast bronze. Design was primitive to say the least.
But – by 55BC they were replaced with astonishingly beautiful gold and silver Celtic Staters.
These are my favorite coins and they are a real piece of art.
Here is the stock picture.
Then – from 43AD and up to 450AD it was all about the Romans – cooper, silver and gold.
After Romans left the local tribes went back to barter, but by 600AD Vikings came in and brought their coinage with them.
Next will be Anglo-Saxons coins – from 650AD and up. The most common ones are the silver Sceattas (we found four of them, but we will talk about that later).
By 755AD Englishmen started hammered first pennies, but they start using penny through the country as a common currency only twenty years later - in 975AD.
After that it was endless chain of different kings and queens and designs.
First milled coins were introduced in 1561-1571. We found them too and I will show you some later.
Now - back to Roman coins.
When I dug my first one I was just speechless for a while – I was holding this little piece of bronze in my hand and it was – at least – seventeen hundred years old and - possibly - up to two thousand!
I do not know about you – but for me it was amazing.
And still is.
Roman silver is rare, but bronze are plenty. Of course after 2000 years under the ground most of coins are not in a good shape.
Here are mine – I have couple of Emperors and one Empresses. You can see the busts, some lettering and can recognize soldiers and eagles on the reverse, but – generally – they are not in a good shape most of the time.
Of course – there are some exceptions.
Let me show you two coins found on this trip.
They are damaged, but very legible.
I’m not even trying to give you exact names of the rulers, it is possible, but they are so numerous, that I just don’t want to step into this water.
I also have to say sorry for the quality of some of my pictures: it was taken with an iPhone "in the field".
Most of the Roman coins we found were bronze, we found one silver denarius, but it was hit by plow ("plough" in British)
and overall was in pretty poor condition, so – no picture.My personal favorite among the coin we found were minims, smallest Roman coins, actually smallest coins I ever hold in my hands.
Look at this one – it’s sitting on the top of memorial penny.
I hope you can see Emperor’s bust looking right and some lettering at 12 o’clock.
I’m seriously questioning the size of those coins. At that time – 2000 years ago - people don’t even have pockets in their closing, so from mine point of view the coins of this size were hammered for one and only purpose – to be lost.
Since we started talking about closing I have to mention another one of my Roman finds – bronze fibula.
Fibulae are brooches (originally - safety pins) that were made popular in Britan by Roman military campaigns. They all consist of a body, a pin, and a catch.
Fibulae are one of the most commonly found objects in UK.
They range from very primitive (usually bronze once) used by poor up to jewelry like gold pieces, worn by rich.
Romans used them to keep two pieces of fabrics together on the shoulders. This picture will give you a good idea why they became the brooches later on – they were highly visible and just asked to be decorated.
This is a bronze fibula in a good shape (stock photo).
Here is mine – as you can see after thousand years underground corrosion took some pieces off it, but you can still see some elements of original design and the grove where the pin once sit.
Another good bronze Roman find was this piece of leg of three legged pot. The legs were often made in form of lion’s paws (you can clearly see the claw on this one).
The complete pot looks similar to this one.
Last thing I have to mention - fragments of “red” Roman ceramic are plentiful on those fields. They are usually orange-red with leftovers of simple decoration.
Here is the picture of couple of them plus two more modern (XVIII century?) pieces of dishes at the bottom.
Well – that’s it for today.
To be continued.
