Our thanks to Viki, who stepped in at the last minute, when our planned speaker cancelled. It has to be said, a talk about Roman Coins didn’t sound that interesting – but how wrong could we be! This talk changed the way we think about coins, as Viki explained that she saw coins as ‘artefacts’, giving us extra information about Roman life.
Her area of research is the county of Lancashire: and she had set up a data base of all known Roman coins, over 1800 in all including 108 hoards. Each coin has its own ‘biography’ – birth, life and death. Every coin was placed by her into a category of wear and tear, defined by notches, scratches, clipping, perforation and corrosion. Basically, there are three categories: 1) Unworn, where the image or head of the emperor and the inscription on the reverse are clear: 2) Slightly worn, where the image and legend are partially obscured: and 3) Very worn, where the image and legend are barely visible, or not visible at all. Her conclusion from this part of the study is that Lancashire especially in the Third Century AD had a healthy monetary economy, since most of the coins are well worn.
Viki then returned to the coin biography, and explained the ‘birth’ or production of a coin. The Romans had many mints all over the Empire, and her study showed coins found locally came from all parts of that Empire. Production was rarely perfect, though, and many coins suffered notches around the edge due to either carelessness or bad production techniques. The Rome mint was worst, with 65% of her sample showing notches, while the mint at Trier only had 16% notches (so it seems Germans had a reputation for efficiency even in Roma times!).
Viki then moved on to the ‘life’ or use phase of the coin. She found most coins became scratched in use, which happens when they rub together – and some were very worn, particularly Third Century AD coins. Then there was debasement, and the clipping around the edges of the coins by unscrupulous individuals who harvested the metal to melt down to make new cons. Viki showed that they always avoided damaging the image of the emperor, though: perhaps the coins would not have been regarded as legal tender if the emperor was ‘clipped’.
Finally, there was the ‘death’ of the coin. In many cases, surface corrosion showed that the coin had been buried in the ground, either deliberately or accidentally. Most coins in hoards showed both wear and corrosion, showing the money had been well used before burial.
Viki concluded that coins are artefacts in their own right, and by detailed study can give us valuable insight into the life and times when they were made, used, and buried or lost. For the audience, Viki’s talk was an eye-opener – and resulted in a large number of questions at the end
Text by Mavis Shannon
Posted by Wendy Ferneyhough
Photo: Silver denarius of Antoninus Pius , c.159AD, Rome mint, showing notches. Portable Antiquities Scheme, LANCUM-9E9E04
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