This week I recorded a coin that I have not seen before and the denarius at this time has an interesting story. BERK-6C680C Copyright: The Portable Antiquities Scheme, License: CC-BY 2.0 The coin in question is one issued during the reign of Septimius Severus (AD193 – 211). The coin is as follows: Silver-plated contemporary copy of …more
This is first in a new series about PAS finds in the West Berkshire Museum. From time to time finds submitted to the PAS are acquired by museums either through the treasure process, temporary loans or donations. Running until October 2022 the museum currently has a hoards exhibition on display, some of which were found …more
Last year was quite a tumultuous one for all. Here’s hoping that 2021 will get better. For this year I have a few things planned. Firstly is finds surgeries. These will be when possible 5 per month. At West Berkshire Museum this will be the 1st and 3rd Wednesday and 1st Saturday of each month. …more
This new series will detail my Top 10 finds recorded each month. Here are those from December. First up is this Republican Denarius of L Cassius Longinus minted in 78BC (BERK-1037DC). On one side is the head of a young Bacchus or Liber while on the other is the head of Libera (Proserpina) left. It …more
Very recently I verified West Berkshire’s 5000 PAS find on the database. Recently I held a poll on Twitter for what should be the 5000th find. As expected, you ask the people who voted for Boaty McBoatface, you get a silly result. The winner was this unidentifiable lead seal/token. However, this makes a wider point …more
With the release of the 2019 PAS Annual Report, here is a couple of special Berkshire ones from the report and a roundup of finds from Berkshire recorded in the past year. PAS 2019 Annual Report First from 2019 is a remarkable find from Bisham, Berkshire, this year was a silver Greek drachm of Alexander …more
This year, West Berkshire Museum had acquired three historic objects of personal adornment which were found by metal detectorists in Berkshire and were declared treasure. The first is a gold Roman finger ring (BERK-375356) which dates to the 1st – 3rd century AD. It is a plain circular band with an oval intaglio made of …more
This period covers the time from around the beginning of the rule of Henry VIII to the turn of the 20th century. This is generally split into two periods Early = AD1500 – 1650 Late = AD1750/1800 – 1900 We don’t use ‘middle’ as there is debate over what constitutes the late Post Medieval. Of …more
This period covers the time from the Norman Invasion in AD1066 to the beginning of the 16th century. There is no agreed upon date for the end of the Medieval period. AD1500 is generally considered to be the end. Across Europe different events are used such as the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453 …more
This period covers the decline of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century to the Norman conquest of 1066 AD. For Berkshire, there are only 181 records covering this period which doesn’t seem that many! In contrast with the Roman period, the finds dominating in this period are brooches, followed by strap-ends, then coins. A …more
