COIN HOARD

TREASURE CASE 2009 T432 Medieval Coin Hoard

General content:519 medieval coins: The great majority of the coins are official issues of the kings of England, five of gold and 487 of silver. Also present are a small number of pennies of King Edward I's Irish coinage, silver coins of the kings of Scots (only pennies), a handful of continental sterlings and two counterfeits (all penny equivalents) and one other foreign coin, a probable issue of the count of Flanders. The gold coins will be the established English standard of over 23 carats fine (c. 95% gold) and the bulk of the silver will be of the sterling standard, over 90% fine metal.

Nature of the find: The dates of the coins range from Edward I's reign, following the last wholesale recoinage of medieval England in 1279/80, to the last period of coinage of Edward III, the so-called Post-Treaty Period of his Fourth Coinage, i.e. 1369-77. There are no coins in the name of Edward III's successor, Richard II, who came to the throne in 1377. Between 1280 and 1377 several major factors had affected the English coinage, with the addition of gold coins from 1344 (the noble of 80 pence and its half and quarter) and from 1351 of large silver denominations (the groat of four-pence and the half-groat of two-pence). The weight of the silver coinage also changed, so older coins had to be of lower weight, through clipping or wear, to survive in currency.

This find contains almost the whole range of the English currency from the later 14th century. Two of the three gold denominations are present, with the half-noble absent, and only missing from the silver denominations are the fractional coins, the halfpenny and farthing, which rarely occur in late medieval hoards. Most of the non-English coins are penny equivalents of types that are known to have formed a small part of the 14th century English currency. In terms of content, a very similar hoard (462 silver coins, with pennies dominant, though lacking any gold component) was found at Grantham in Lincolnshire in 1994.

The intact English coins present consist of: 1 noble; 4 quarter nobles; 51 groats; 73 half-groats; and 362 pennies. Their face value in the 14th century was £3 11s.6d. (Adding in the foreign coins as equivalent to English pennies, plus the fragmentary English coins, would add just over 2 shillings to this total.)

There is no question that the coins would all have circulated together in the later 14th century. Pennies of Edward I and I remained an important element in the English currency into the early 15th century, with some survivals occurring as late as hoards deposited under Henry VII in the 1480s. This accumulation of coins looks to have been deposited either at the end of Edward III's reign or during the early years of Richard II, in the years to either side of 1380 and virtually certainly before 1384.

Pottery: Parts of two pottery vessels were found with the coins from the hoard. A third collection of small, residual sherds is probably unrelated to the hoard.

1. Cheam whiteware biconical drinking jug. Produced at Cheam, Surrey. Small biconical jug with a rod handle. The base, rod handle and part of the rim survive. The jug is made in the characteristic white-firing clay of the Cheam pottery industry, resulting in a pale buff/orange surface colour, and has a patchy area or 'bib' of green copper lead glaze on the upper part. The method of attachment of the lower end of the handle is characteristic of the small jugs made by Cheam potters: the wall of the pot was pierced with a pointed tool, usually three or four times, resulting in three circular holes, over which the end of the handle was pressed outside, leaving the holes visible on the inside surface. Cheam pottery was exported to London in large quantities, and is also found in Essex. The Cheam whiteware biconical jug is characteristic of late-14th century assemblages, and is certainly consistent with the date of c1380 for the hoard. Base diameter approx. 50mm.

2. Redware jug A fine redware pottery, probably a large jug. The fabric is characteristic of pottery made in Essex at kilns such as Mill Green or Rayleigh (further analysis might identify the source). As only base and wall sherds survive, it is difficult to identify the specific form of the vessel. Probably dates to the late medieval period, between the late 14th and late 15th century.

The Cheam whiteware jug is perhaps more likely to have been the hoard container, although both vessels are consistent with the date given to the hoard.

Treasure implications: The coins found in the area are of good gold or silver content and would have been deposited on one occasion in the later 14th century. That they fulfil the criteria of Treasure, according to the terms of the Act. The Cheam whiteware biconical drinking jug and Redware jug appear to be associated with the coins, and as such qualify as Treasure.

Dr Barrie J Cook Curator of Medieval and Early Modern Coinage, British Museum.

Beverley Nenk Curator of Medieval Ceramics Department, British Museum

17 November 2010