We are now well over halfway through our planned museum visits and have been very busy the last couple of months. Our most recent visit was to the Museum of London Archaeological Archive where we examined the objects from the Principal Place hoard. The hoard of 135 late Roman gold and silver coins was discovered during archaeological excavations in the Shoreditch area of London and had been buried at the fringes of an extramural cemetery in use during the period c. 180-400 CE. A brooch fragment was also linked to the hoard but it may also be associated with the cemetery. No traces of a container was found but it is assumed that the hoard was mostly likely deposited in an organic container (e.g. a wooden box or textile bag) since the coins formed a discrete cluster. Since so few late Roman hoards are currently known from London, the Principal Place hoard is of particular importance.
The 14 gold coins were issued in the second half of the fourth century, the latest minted at Milan under Arcadius in 388-395 CE. Collectively, the solidi weigh around 85g and represent a considerable amount of wealth. The coins show very little sign of wear, and this may suggest that they did not circulate widely before they were collected. Two of the coins, however, do display some interesting wear. The first is a solidus which has three distinct scratch lines on the obverse of the coin to the right of the bust (see image above). What do these scratches represent? It’s possible that the scratches are test marks made by someone checking the quality of the gold. This is particularly interesting given that the solidus may in fact be an imitation of a genuine coin issued by Valens (367-375 CE). There is greater spacing between the letters on the obverse legend and the reverse also appears unusual compared to genuine issues. The other gold coin that caught our eye is a solidus issued under Valentinian II in the later fourth century (388-395 CE). This coin may possibly display evidence of very light clipping. The clipping of gold coins was forbidden under Roman Law and the Theodosian Code, a fifth-century compilation of Roman laws, outlines severe punishments including the death penalty for those found guilty of this act.
Turning to the silver coins, almost all of the 114 siliquae show evidence of clipping, and the majority are either heavily or moderately clipped (CF3-4). The severity of clipping in the Principal Place hoard is comparable to the Worlington hoard found in Suffolk. The latest coins in the hoard were minted in Milan in 395-402 CE by Arcadius or Honorius and a high proportion of the 114 coins were identified as this type. A high number of imitations were also identified amongst the silver coins and these coins were also heavily clipped. The greater number of Arcadius and Honorian issues alongside the high level of clipping strongly suggest that the hoard was buried later in the fifth century.