Bronze Antoninianus from the Normanby Hoard Very Fine

On the 30th of October 1873, two large pear-shaped pots containing 29,802 Roman coins were dug up in Blackmoor Park in the parish of Selborne, Hampshire, halfway between Alton and Petersfield. The coins were closely packed and caked together with dirt so had to be carefully excavated, cleaned, and studied. The hoard consisted of coins dating up to around A.D. 296, the year of a battle near Woolmer, where the troops under the Emperor Constantius Chlorus defeated the army of the famous usurper Allectus to retake control of Britain. The hoard could be the unrecovered pay chest for the defeated armies of Allectus. Close to the location of the main coin find several other items have been found including bronze swords, spearheads, axe-heads, pottery, and other articles in metal including more coins. In 1975, the 4th Earl of Selborne decided to sell what he still had left of the hoard when it was auctioned by Christie’s on 9 December 1975. These coins have been tucked away since then and we are able to offer you a very limited quantity that we were able to purchase. The coins are billon Antoninianus of the emperors Victorinus and Tetricus and grade About Very Fine. The selection of coins from this hoard will be of our choice, but if you order more than one coin, we will try to provide you with different coins featuring the portraits of different emperors.

Late in the ‘Crisis of the Third Century’ Britain & Northern France did not have enough regular coinage so the locals took matters into their own hands! Recent research shows the new, superior silver coin of Aurelian were being saved and not used, so for about 11 years (A.D. 275-286) crude, bronze coins were made locally to ‘top up’ the coins in circulation. They copied old types from Gallienus, Postumus, Claudius II (to name a few) but the quality of the designs varied hugely as they were made by normal people risking death for ‘counterfeiting’. We have a group of these ‘Barbarous Radiates’ that all show a head on the obverse and different reverses, but as they are crudely made, the first to order will get the best. Add to your collection an ancient coin of the people who risked death just to help out their local area, a local coin for local people!

Before the Crisis of the Third Century, most cities in the Roman Empire did not have walls, dried fruit from Syria could be bought in Britain and copper from Cornwall was traded in Egypt! Sadly this did not last and continuing with our series we offer one of the harder major Emperors to get from the Crisis, Claudius II Gothicus. Born around A.D. 214 he had held several important military commands during the reigns of Valerian I and Gallienus. When Gallienus was murdered at the siege of Milan, Claudius was swiftly proclaimed emperor by the troops and approved by the Senate. He took the city of Milan and suppressed the rebellion. He quickly defeated the invading Alemanni tribe, then the invading Goths in A.D. 269, winning the title ‘Gothicus Maximus’. Next year the Goths attacked again in Thrace, but an outbreak of plague left them so weak they were again defeated by Claudius. But the plague spread from the captured Goths to the Roman army. Claudius himself fell victim and died of plague at Sirmium in August A.D. 269. He was the turning point in the fortunes of the Roman Empire, the beginning of a long struggle back to stability after The Crisis. We offer Billon Antoninianus with various reverses in an About Very Fine grade with various reverses. As is typical with these coins from The Crisis some will have weaker sections and the first to order will get the best! Claudius Gothicus is one of the hardest Crisis emperors to get so these will run out fast.