The Frome Hoard is a hoard of 52,503 Roman coins found by metal detectorist Dave Crisp near Frome, England. The coins, contained in a ceramic pot 45cm in diameter, were/are dated from AD 253 to AD 305. The coins are made of debased silver or bronze. It is one of the largest hoards ever found in Britain. It is important because it contains the biggest group issued during the cesarean reign of Carausius. Carausius ruled Britain from 286 to 293 and was the first emperor to mint coins in Britain. The hoard is housed at the Museum of Somerset in Taunton, made possible by a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. The value of said was 320,250 pounds in 2011.
The hoard was discovered on 11 April 2010 while Crisp was metal detecting in a field near Frome, a place he had previously found late Roman silver coins. The late Roman coins, eventually adding up to 62, were probably the remnants of a scattered hoard, 111 of which had been found on the same farm in 1867. He got a strange signal and dug down abut 35cm (14in) and found a small radiate coin. He also noticed a small ring of a pot top. Realizing that this must be an intact coin hoard he stopped digging and filled in the hole he had made. In 22 years of detecting, Crisp had never made such a significant find.
On 15 April, Crisp notified Katie Hinds, the Portable Antiquities Scheme Finds Liaison Officer for Wiltshire, that he had found the hoard of coins. On 22 April Hinds, together with Anna Booth (Finds Liaison Officer for Somerset) and Alan Graham—an independent archaeologist contracted by Somerset County Council—visited the site to carry out emergency excavation.
The excavation, led by Graham and assisted by Hinds, Booth, Crisp and members of the landowner's family, was performed over three days, from 23 to 25 April. Graham initially excavated 1.5 meters (4.9ft) trench around the small hole that Crisp had dug and identified the pit in which the pot had been deposited. A small, black-burnished bowl had been inverted over the mouth of the larger pot, to form a lid. First, he excavated the pit fill around the exterior of the pot, identifying organic matter which might represent packing material to protect it, and determined that the pot had been broken insitu long before its discovery in 2010. He then excavated the pot itself. Due to the weight of the contents, the need for speedy excavation due to security concerns and the difficulty in lifting the broken pot with the contents still inside—which would be the preferred archaeological method, so that the contents could be excavated in controlled, laboratory conditions—the decision was taken to excavate the coins in the field. -Wikipedia
Conserving the Massive Hoard
On 26 April, Sam Moorhead, Finds Advisor for Iron Age and Roman coins at the British Museum, and Roger Bland, Head of the Department of Portable Antiquities and Treasure at the British Museum traveled to Frome to collect the coin excavation, driving them back to the British Museum in London. Over the ensuing six weeks, Metals Conservator Pippa Pearce washed and dried all the coins in order to stabilize them, but did not perform a full conservation, which would have cost an additional £35,000.
The coins comprise 67 separate types, and date from the period 253 to 305. The vast majority of coins are made from bronze, but five are made from solid silver.
Of the 52,503 coins found, 44,245 have been identified, while the remainder are classified provisionally as "illegible" until cleaning and conservation has been completed. Of the identifiable coins, 14,788 were minted under the central Roman Empire, 28,377 were struck under the breakaway Gallic Empire, and 766 were minted under the Britannic Empire of Carausius. About 5% of the coins identified so far are from Carausius' period, ruling Britain from 286 to 293. The hoard includes five silver denarii issued by Carausius, which were the only type of silver coin to be struck anywhere in the Roman Empire at that time.
For a fascinating journey, visit the British Museum website. https://www.britishmuseum.org/
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