Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Electronic Auction 487 10 Mar 2021
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Commemorative Series. AD 330-354. Æ Follis (15mm, 0.91 g, 6h). Imitating Constantinopolis type. Unofficial mint in East Anglia. Struck circa AD 335-339. CONST[ANTI]NOPOLS (sic), Laureate, helmeted, draped, and cuirassed bust of Constantinopolis left, holding spear over shoulder / Victory standing left on prow, holding spear and shield set on ground; PLC. Cf. A. Marsden, "Contemporary Imitations of Constantine's Wolf & Twins Coinage" in Treasure Hunting, June-July 2001, p. 29 for similar imitations from the same area. For prototype, cf. RIC VII 246. Brown surfaces. Good VF.
Ex 1989 Nether Compton (Dorset) Hoard.
Imitations had circulated in widely in Britain during the Julio-Claudian period and the time of the Gallic Empire, but these were generally produced in Gaul and Spain. Certain imitations of the mid-330s, however, can be definitively shown to have been produced in Britain. Through hoard evidence and site finds, including the 1989 Nether Compton (Dorset) Hoard, the tangled web of this unofficial coinage can begin to be unwoven. Adrian Marsden has used stylistic linkages to identify two major centers of production, along with three smaller locations. These unofficial mints apparently produced a great volume of counterfeit coinage, as die duplicates are scarce.
This massive hoard of 22,670 Roman coins was found by Mike Pittard while metal detecting in a field near Nether Compton on 19 February 1989. The field is by the side of a trackway, the other side of which is a known Roman building. The actual finding of the hoard was photographed and the report was published in The Searcher magazine (Issue 44, April 1989). The hoard was deposited with the Yeovil Museum by the finder in 1989. It was subsequently returned to the finder, sold, and dispersed through the trade in 1994. No detailed record was made of the contents of the hoard. The pottery vessel and some 33 additional coins that had remained stuck to the pot were donated to the museum and remain there. Although the Nether Compton Hoard was never recorded or published, a limited amount of information has been gleaned from people who have handled it or part of it. It was a very large mid-Constantinian hoard and typical in composition, with all but about 7% consisting of the very common bronze issues of the AD 330s (the Urbs Roma and Constantinopolis commemoratives and the Gloria Exercitus type in the names of Constantine I and his sons). There were no coins of the two Victories type, suggesting that the hoard was deposited around AD 339.
Ex 1989 Nether Compton (Dorset) Hoard.
Imitations had circulated in widely in Britain during the Julio-Claudian period and the time of the Gallic Empire, but these were generally produced in Gaul and Spain. Certain imitations of the mid-330s, however, can be definitively shown to have been produced in Britain. Through hoard evidence and site finds, including the 1989 Nether Compton (Dorset) Hoard, the tangled web of this unofficial coinage can begin to be unwoven. Adrian Marsden has used stylistic linkages to identify two major centers of production, along with three smaller locations. These unofficial mints apparently produced a great volume of counterfeit coinage, as die duplicates are scarce.
This massive hoard of 22,670 Roman coins was found by Mike Pittard while metal detecting in a field near Nether Compton on 19 February 1989. The field is by the side of a trackway, the other side of which is a known Roman building. The actual finding of the hoard was photographed and the report was published in The Searcher magazine (Issue 44, April 1989). The hoard was deposited with the Yeovil Museum by the finder in 1989. It was subsequently returned to the finder, sold, and dispersed through the trade in 1994. No detailed record was made of the contents of the hoard. The pottery vessel and some 33 additional coins that had remained stuck to the pot were donated to the museum and remain there. Although the Nether Compton Hoard was never recorded or published, a limited amount of information has been gleaned from people who have handled it or part of it. It was a very large mid-Constantinian hoard and typical in composition, with all but about 7% consisting of the very common bronze issues of the AD 330s (the Urbs Roma and Constantinopolis commemoratives and the Gloria Exercitus type in the names of Constantine I and his sons). There were no coins of the two Victories type, suggesting that the hoard was deposited around AD 339.