Soldier’s lost gold coin is rare find for treasure hunters
A ROMAN soldier would have had cause to remember tramping through the region almost 2,000 years ago – and for all the wrong reasons.
A Roman gold coin has been found at Dinnington on the outskirts of Newcastle, along with six silver coins.
The gold coin amounted to more than a month’s pay for a soldier.
“It is a marvellous coin and it is a lot of money. Whoever lost it would have been seriously dischuffed,” said Lindsay Allason-Jones, keeper of collections for the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne.
The society has launched an appeal to raise funds to buy the coins in the hope that they can go on show in the Great North Museum in Newcastle.
The coins were found when a pond was being dug on private property at Dinnington.
The gold aureus coin is from the reign of Vitellius, who was emperor for only eight months in AD69, and the silver denarii coins date from 32-31BC to AD81-96.
“The aureus is in remarkably good condition. No trace was found of a container and this suggests the coins were in a leather or cloth bag,” said Lindsay.
The date of the coins ties them into the time of the Roman advance into Scotland under the general Julius Agricola, who was made governor of Britannia.
Dinnington lies in a direct line north from the ford over the Tyne near Benwell, which was the first safe crossing place of the river before the Roman bridge was built at Newcastle.
It is presumed that this ford was used during Agricola’s advance north.
It is very rare to find a gold coin in what was a military zone and this one is a rare issue as it depicts the children of Vitellius on the reverse.
Such coins were also used to pay bonuses to soldiers on the accession of a new emperor, in this case possibly the accession of Domitian.
“The coins are really early for the region and are evidence for the Roman advance into Scotland,” said Lindsay.
“As we are the only organisation in the region in a position to buy items which have been declared Treasure Trove, the hoard will almost certainly leave the North East if we cannot raise the purchase price of £20,050.”
The society has been awarded £8,000 from the V&A Purchase Fund.
The society has also just acquired 19 Roman silver coins which were found at Whittington in Northumberland.
Another Roman find has been made by a farming family in the South Tyne Valley near Slaggyford in Northumberland.
Elaine Edgar lives at the 18th century Castle Nook Farm, which is adjacent to the Roman fort of Epiacum.
She has set up the not-for- profit Epiacum Heritage Ltd, to oversee the stewardship, management and development of the fort, a scheduled ancient monument, for public access, appreciation and research. When render was being removed from a barn at the farm, an altar was revealed built into the wall above the doorway. “It looks as if it was placed above the door as decoration by the people who built the barn,” said Elaine. Builder Steven Bell from Garrigill carefully removed the altar during the barn work and it is now stored at the Hub Heritage Museum at Alston. The altar depicts a dish and a pitcher, thought to represent the pouring of religious libations. Meanwhile, more details have emerged from the discovery of a copper diploma found by a metal detectorist near Lanchester Roman fort in County Durham. Earlier this year we reported how inscriptions recorded that the diploma had been awarded to an individual called Velvotigernus, after his completion of 26 years service with the Classis Germanica – Lindsay Allason-Jones the provincial Roman fleet in Germany.
This is the first example of a sailor’s discharge diploma to be found in Britain and entitled the holder to Roman citizenship for himself, his wife and children.
It is thought that Velvotigernus returned to his native Lanchester.
The diploma also records the name of his father, Magiotigernus.
The ‘tigernus’ part of the name is thought to mean ‘king’ or ‘master,’ indicating that the family held high local status in the native community.
An inscription on an altar from the fort, set up a unit of Suebians from Bavaria in Germany and Roman records show the name of the Lanchester base was Longovicio.
“The traditional interpretation of this as ‘place of the ship fighters’ might seem odd given the inland location of Lanchester but the recent discovery could suggest that this was correct,” said David Mason, Durham County Council principal, archaeologist.
“It could be that other family members had done what Velvotigernus did, perhaps generation after generation.”
The diploma is on show at the Palace Green Museum in Durham.