COIN HOARD

A group of 3,874 Roman radiates within a Severn Valley Ware narrow mouthed storage jar dating from the Emperor Philip II to the Emperor Probus (244-282 AD).

The coins range in date from AD 244-282 (the coins of the emperor Probus include his final issues from Lyon which carry the letters A-D marking the four workshops of the mint). The group is broadly similar in composition to the many Romano-British coin hoards (at over 200 so far recorded) buried in the aftermath of the breakaway 'Gallic Empire'. The Gallic empire, whose capital was at the city of Trier but which had held dominion over Britain, was established in AD 260 and reconquered by the legitimate ('central') emperor Aurelian in AD 274.

One of the coins is a large (comparable in size to a modern £2 coin) brass sestertius of the second century AD. The rest of the coins are much smaller (between the size of a 1p and 20p piece) and are all of the denomination known as radiates, originally a silver multiple of the denarius, but by this time had become debased to the point of being essentially bronze (c.1% silver).

Summary:

Central empire

Hadrian, AD 117-38 1 (sestertius)

Philip II Caesar, AD 244-7 1

Valerian and Gallienus AD 253-60

Valerian I 2

Gallienus 2

Salonina 10

Saloninus Caesar 2

Valerian II (Divus) 3

Gallienus, AD 253-68 437

Salonina 40

Claudius II, AD 268-70 338

Divus Claudius II 73

Quintillus, AD 270 30

Aurelian, AD 270-5 21

Tacitus, AD 275-6 15

Florian, AD 276 3

Probus, AD 276-82 36

Gallic empire

Postumus, AD 260-9 61

Laelian (AD 269) 7

Marius (AD 269) 11

Victorinus (AD 269-71) 811

Divus Victorinus 3

Tetricus I (AD 271-4) 1230

Tetricus II 573

Uncertain Gallic emperor 85

Irregular 78

Illegible 2

Total 3875

Summary of mints

Central Empire

Rome 806

Gaul 42

Milan 91

Ticinum 11

Siscia 27

Antioch 4

Uncertain/Other 33

Total 1014

Gallic Empire

Mint I 1816

Mint II 640

Milan 8

Uncertain 317

Total 2781

Uncertain Emperor 2

Irregular 78

Pottery- by C Jane Evans It was possible to estimate the original profile and thus the form and date of the jar containing the hoard, although the jar was in fragments and had not been washed. It will need to be reconstructed for illustration (ie publication), and fully quantified as part of the excavated pottery assemblage from the find site. The narrow-mouthed jar is in Severn Valley ware, WHEAS Fabric 12 (Hurst and Rees 1992; www.worcestershireceramics.org), the most common fabric produced and used in the region during the Roman period. This particular form, with a simple out-curving rim and globular profile, is thought to be a long lived type, dating from the mid first century AD to the fourth century AD (Webster 1976, fig. 1.1). It was the most common narrow mouthed jar type produced at the Malvern, Newland Hopfields kiln site (Evans et al 2000, fig. 21.JNM1), where the main period of production was dated to the mid-to-late second century into the third (op. cit. 70). The most interesting parallel, in terms of dating and perhaps the wider context of deposition, comes from excavations at Bays Meadow villa in Droitwich (Barfield 2006). The complete profile of a similar jar is published from Phase 3 (op. cit. fig. 97.116). This phase has a clear terminus post quem of c AD 289, based on coins associated with the construction of a defensive rampart (op. cit. 125-6). It is thought that the main villa was destroyed some time in the late 3^rd century, and new building occurred from c AD 355. No good parallels for the jar are evident in the later 4^th century, phase 4, assemblage from the site. Based on the evidence above, the form of the jar associated with the Bredon Hill hoard is entirely consistent with the date of the coins it contains. It is therefore likely to be broadly contemporary with the coins rather than being a reused older vessel.

Conclusion

On the balance of probabilities, therefore, I conclude that these coins belong together as a hoard and constitute a prima facie case of treasure by being bronze coins of an antiquity greater than 300 years and are of one find of more than ten pieces.