File:ESS-004132 - 2005 T371 Roman silver coin hoard (FindID 192402-164670).jpg

19 Roman coins and a fragment of a silver toilet impliment.

British Museum Report:

Description of Find 1 silver denarius fragment and 18 silver siliquae to AD 402: Summary of the coins Denarius: Octavian (29-27 BC), 1 Siliquae: Mint Tr. Md. uncertain AD 367-75 3 - - 375-8/9 2 - - 378/9-88 1 - - 388-95 1 - - 395-402 - 8 - siliquae fragments: - 3 Totals 1 7 8 3 Grand total 19

Toothpick fragment by Richard Hobbs Fragment of silver toilet implement, originally part of a late Roman double-ended type of implement with a comma-shaped 'toothpick' at one end, and an 'ear-scoop' at the other. Only part of the flat disc characteristic of such implements and the comma-shaped point survive. The obverse is decorated with a 'Chi-Rho' symbol, made by a series of punched chevrons closely set to form lines. The reverse has similar impressed dots to form lines, but it is unclear what the original design was; some of the incised lines follow the edge of the curve, whilst others appear to form an equal-armed cross.

It is possible that the fragment was deliberately cut (transforming it into a piece of Hacksilber), but the edges are too worn to be certain of this.

Discussion. Toilet implements with comma-shaped terminals are a well known late Roman type (for example, three examples from the Hoxne hoard, The British Museum P&E 1992,04-08,151-53). The closest parallel is a complete implement from the Canterbury hoard (Johns & Potter 1985, 326, no. 17), which also has a Chi-Rho symbol composed of punched dots. There is also a complete implement in the Kaiseraugst treasure with a Chi-Rho, although this example is openwork (Cahn & Kaufmann-Heinimann 1984, 122, no. 39). However, both these examples are about twice the size of the projected size of this fragment; it is closest in dimensions to an unprovenanced piece in a private collection (ibid., 125, fig. 68, no. 7).

Date. mid to late fourth century AD. Dimensions. Surviving l.: 17.5 mm Surviving w.: 9.0 mm Wt.: 0.84g

Age and metal-content The Treasure Act requires objects to be more than 300 years old in order to qualify as treasure. At this period great efforts were made by the Romans to refine gold and silver for their coinage (they carried mint-markings guaranteeing the processes) and such coins were usually as pure as was then technologically possible (greater than 95%).

From the same find? All but one of the coins from this group are of similar type and date - Roman silver coins (siliquae) from the late fourth century AD, which could all have been circulating together in the first decade of the fifth century (the date of the latest coins in the group). There are several other hoards of this type known in the East Anglia area, the most famous being the Hoxne treasure which contained many coins of this period in addition to a few later types (in addition to silver toothpicks mentioned above). The denarius fragment is a more unusual find to be in association with such late Roman coins. It dates to the early part of the reign of Octavian (later Augustus), 31 BC - AD 14 and could have been in the regular Romano-British coin circulation up until the early part of the second century AD. However, occasional evidence from other finds of late Roman coins (e.g. the fifth century Patching hoard from Sussex and the fourth century Beaurains treasure from Arras in northern France) shows that such denarii from Republican / early Imperial times sometimes survived into later periods - presumably kept for their silver content as the denomination would probably no longer have been familiar so long after the discontinuation of denarius production (in the third century AD).

It therefore seems probable that all the objects belong to the same find, and therefore fall within the category of treasure as defined in the Treasure Act (1996).

Conclusion On the balance of probabilities, I conclude that the Sible Hedingham find constitutes a prima facie case of treasure, by being one deposit of more than two precious metal coins over 300 years old. Irrespective of its metal content, the toothpick fragment should be considered treasure too by association with the coins.

Richard Abdy, Curator, Roman Coins British Museum 26th June 2006