ROMAN GOLD COIN HOARD FOUND NEAR NORWICH

 

A hoard of Roman gold coins hidden in the decades before the Roman invasion of Britain has been discovered.

Eleven coins have been found so far, scattered near Norwich in Iceni tribe territory. Their queen Boudica would later rebel against Roman rule.

Numismatist Adrian Marsden said the hoard is "really quite exceptional" and more coins might be unearthed.

The first coins were found by two metal detectorists in 2017 and they have been uncovering more ever since.

Mr Marsden, from the Norfolk Historic Environment Service, said: "In the last two or three years, they've said, 'There won't be any more,' and I've said, 'There will be,' and sure enough they pull another one out.

"Hoards get dispersed by tractors and ploughs or planting, so coins get moved about fields and can travel quite some distances."

They were struck at Lugdunum, now Lyon, in France, between the last years of the 1st Century BC and the first years of the 1st Century AD - a generation before the Roman invasion in AD43.

 

They are hardly worn and each has a tiny peck mark by the emperor Augustus' head, which Mr Marsden believes was done by Iceni craftsmen to check their quality.

"These are really high purity gold, whereas the Iron Age gold coins circulating at that time is quite debased - they knew good Roman gold when they saw it," he said.

David adds:

To read the complete article, see:
'Exceptional' Roman gold coin hoard found near Norwich (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-61984020)

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