HOARD

From Bland and Loriot pp.190-1:

5 aurei (Nero, 1; Titus under Vespasian, 1; Domitian under Vespasian, 1; Trajan, 1; Diva Faustina I, 1). W T Watkin, Roman Lancashire, p. 162 = T C Smith and the Rev. J Shortt, The History of the Parish of Ribchester, London, 1890, p. 38 = Garstang 1899a , p. 3 (lists nos. 1, 4 and 5) = Shotter 1990, p. 32 = Shotter, Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire 143, 1993, p. 222 = Shotter 1995, p. 50 (`Ribchester: The Hart Collection at Blackburn Museum contains two aurei from Ribchester - an issue each for Titus and Domitian as Caesars (RIC (Vespasian) 177 and 323, of AD 73 and 74). In addition, there is in the Harris Museum at Preston an impression of an aureus of Nero (RIC I, 2 (Nero) 52, of AD 64-5). All three coins appear to have been discovered in January 1837, close to the site where, a month later, the bath-house was located. A contemporary report in the Preston Pilot (for 11th February, 1837) shows that the coins were found together, leaving open the possibility that they formed the whole or part of a hoard. Two other aurei of the early imperial period are on record as having been found at Ribchester - an issue of Trajan (RIC 93) and of Faustina I (RIC 351, found in 1834). Although these finds are not connected in the stated evidence, a hoard of aurei from Nero to Faustina I is by no means unlikely (Watkin, 1883, 162-3; Birley, 1961, 261 [add ref.]). Bolton Museum has in its collection three unprovenanced aurei, which have been in the collection since at least 1908. It is not impossible that these also derive from the bath-house hoard; they consist of an issue each of Vitellius (RIC I, 2 (Vitellius) 89), Faustina I (RIC (Antoninus) 356), and Faustina II (RIC (Marcus) 709). These coins are published in Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire 143 (1994), 221-5.').
Coin of Trajan: NC 3 1840/1, p. 60 (`Gold coin of Trajan. - Mr Skaife, of Blackburn, informs us that, "On the 28th of May last, a boy was amusing himself on the banks of the Ribble, just below the school at Ribchester, with throwing stones at the swallows as they flitted past him. He had caught up a handful of gravel, and was about to throw it off, when some glittering object in the midst arreested his attention: on closer inspection, it was discovered to be a gold coin of Trajan. Obv. - Laureated head. R - COS. V. P. P. P. P. Q. R. OPTIMO. PRINCIPI. In the exergue, ALIM. ITAL. The emperor distributing gifts to two children."')