EARLY in the year 1846 some Roman Silver Coins were found in the parish of Beachamwell in this county. My late friend, S. W. Stevenson, Esq., F.S.A., to whom they were submitted, and whose interest in numismatic pursuits and intimate acquaintance with the ancient classics and their history, peculiarly fitted him for the task, drew up a descriptive catalogue of them, which has been long hidden among my papers, but which the Society may think not unworthy of record in the pages of our Archæological Journal; for the study of ancient coins may worthily interest others, besides the antiquary. Many a student has been indebted to coins for his interpretation of an ancient writer, and the historian has found in them the most certain evidences of history. The reigns of Roman Emperors, Gibbon tells us, might in some instances be almost written from their coins; and the artist has been indebted to them for the delineation of much that is beautiful in art; and not unfrequently for models of admirable execution. Those which are described in the following catalogue were found on Beachamwell Sheepwalk, near the Wellmore plantation, by a lad sent to fetch a load of sand. In digging for the sand, he struck his spade against an earthen pot, from which fell fifty or more pieces of silver money. The pot, which was of Roman manufacture, was broken by the stroke. It had been covered-as was usually the case when such vessels were buried with treasure, and were not inverted-by a smaller jar, or dish, of much finer ware than the larger one: this escaped the blow of the spade. The engraving here given shows the form of the larger vessel, and on the bottom, the potter's name, SOSIMIM, clearly stamped. The spot where they were buried was about two feet from the surface; and level with and near to it during the preceding summer had been found an urn, but no vestiges of charcoal, bone, or metal, which usually indicate a burialground. Not that this is conclusive that the place had never been used for the purpose of interment, as such relics might easily escape cursory observation; and if the spot had been so appropriated, it was probably, according to the Roman practice of sepulture, near a highway; but I am not aware that any traces of such remains have been or can at this day be discovered. The positions in which from day to day these treasures are found in the county, show that the Romans had at one time. complete possession of the hills and streams of the district. None of these discoveries have hitherto pointed to the existence of a city, or of any extensive villa, but rather to stations occupied for military purposes, and these are shown to have been numerous and well chosen, both for defence and for facility of communication with each other. Upon this subject, Pinkerton, in his Essay on Medals, remarks, "It was no doubt a custom with that people, in every instance ardently desirous of fame, to bury parcels of coin as a monument of their having as it were taken possession of the ground," leaving behind them these enduring memorials, and thus preserving an unquestionable record of facts. There is also another reason to account for the occasional discovery of parcels of coin, which is, that they were probably deposited by their possessors whenever they had more than they could carry about with them, a custom even to this day amongst some of the nations of the East. These hoards are sometimes discovered undisturbed, but they are more frequently dispersed by modern excavations, and, scattered about, are found singly or in small numbers, at different times, as chance or accident may bring them to the surface. The land on which the coins were found was the property of the Hon. C. Spencer Cowper, and to him, I believe, they were ultimately sent. The only rare reverses amongst them are the "Tellus Stabilita" and the "Hispania" of Hadrian, together with a type of Hercules of the same reign, and the "Fortuna Obsequens" of Antoninus Pius. I have ventured to make the catalogue rather more descriptive than usual, but to this some of our younger members will probably not object. 1. VESPASIAN, Reigned from A.D. 69 to A.D. 79. IMP. CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG. Laureate head of Vespasian. 2. Same obverse. Reverse: CoS. ITER. TR. POT. Female figure, seated, holding ears of corn in her right hand, and a caduceus in the left. (A.D. 70.) 3. Same obverse and apparently the same reverse. 4. Same obverse. Reverse: coS. ITER. TR. POT. Mars, walking; a spear in the right hand, and a trophy on his left shoulder. (A.D. 70.) 5. [IMP. CAE]S. VESP. AVG. CENS.—Imperator Cæsar Vespasianus Augustus Censor. Laureate head of the Emperor. The legend and portrait of the obverse much effaced, and the impression of the reverse totally obliterated. DOMITIAN, A.D. 81 to 96. Laureate head. 6. CAESAR DIVI F. DOMITIANVS COS. VII. Reverse: PRINCEPS IVVENTVTIS.-Prince of the Roman Youth. A title of honour appropriated to the heir apparent or presumptive of the imperial throne. (A.D. 77-79.) Struck during the lifetime of Vespasian. Type-a lighted altar. 7. IMP. CAES. DOMIT. AVG. GERM. P. M. TR. P. XIII.-Imperator Cæsar Domitianus Augustus Germanicus Pontifex Maximus, Tribunitia Potestatis xiii.-The Emperor Cæsar Domitian, the August, the German, Sovereign Pontiff, enjoying the Tribunitian power for the thirteenth time. Reverse IMP. XXII. COS. XVI. CENS. P. P. P.-Imperator XXII., Consul |