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 Replies: 10 / Views: 1,988 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4883 Posts |
Colligo ergo sum
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
Very interesting. If I lived in the UK, I'd be out digging every day.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
 I would love to see a database with some raw hoard data. What especially puzzles me are the lots of lower grade coins being sold by a few Spanish ebay sellers. They all look like detector finds based on having nearly identical patinas, but their lots usually contain a mix of everything from celtiberian, 1st century bronzes, 3rd century antoninianii, and LRBs. Very unusual spread spanning multiple complete monetary reforms. |
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5174 Posts |
Quote:What especially puzzles me are the lots of lower grade coins being sold by a few Spanish ebay sellers. They all look like detector finds based on having nearly identical patinas, but their lots usually contain a mix of everything from celtiberian, 1st century bronzes, 3rd century antoninianii, and LRBs. Very unusual spread spanning multiple complete monetary reforms. I would guess that they are detector finds, but not hoards - which aren't that common, anyway - but (aggregated) single finds in areas where all of those types circulated (at different times, obviously). This is also why you sometimes see a 17th century copper in a Roman coin lot - the detectorist (and/or the seller) aggregated all the old coins they found and didn't really care if they belonged with each other. That said, back then, coins didn't go out of circulation as quickly as today, and if found had a chance of getting pressed into circulation again anyway. IIRC there are some known examples of Roman coins with 17th century counterstamps certifying them as circulating Spanish money. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4883 Posts |
Quote:
I would love to see a database with some raw hoard data. Such is presently being compiled. See: http://oxrep.classics.ox.ac.uk/coin...ire_project/Quote:
I would guess that they are detector finds, but not hoards - which aren't that common, anyway According to the above website, " Thousands of coin hoards have been found throughout the geographical area which once constituted the Roman Empire." (Emphasis mine) Colligo ergo sum
Edited by Lucky Cuss
05/05/2017 10:53 am
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5174 Posts |
Quote:
According to the above website, "Thousands of coin hoards have been found throughout the geographical area which once constituted the Roman Empire." (Emphasis mine) Exactly. Thousands, not millions, which is what it would need to be for the sheer amount of Roman coin lots on ebay. A few thousand hoards for the entire Roman Empire (~= the entire Europe) in the last few centuries (or at least the last few decades) means something around a dozen hoards per country per year. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4883 Posts |
Quote:
...a dozen hoards per country per year. Or one every month in each of several countries. I judge that then to be a pretty commonplace occurrence. I've nothing to back this up, but I'd wager more Roman imperial coinage on the market today, especially if it's of higher quality, comes from hoards rather than individual recoveries. Colligo ergo sum
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4883 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4883 Posts |
Colligo ergo sum
Edited by Lucky Cuss
05/11/2017 8:48 pm
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Moderator
United States
34419 Posts |
Fascinating links! I just spent about 15 mins looking at all of them.
"If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Valued Member
126 Posts |
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Replies: 10 / Views: 1,988 |
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Posted 05/05/2017 09:01 am
