Rare Roman coin found in Acle only the second of its kind

An incredibly rare Roman coin discovered in Acle has been donated to Norwich Castle Museum.

The coin -- only the second of its kind known in the world -- was unearthed by Dave Clarke during the Springfield archaeology dig last summer.

Acle Parish Council has sent the ancient artefact to Norwich where it may go on display and will be used by experts to identify and date other coins.

The coin dates from AD 312 when Emperor Constantine I ruled the Roman world. The only other example was found in the 18th Century and is on show in Lisbon.

One side shows the bust of Constantine the Great and the reverse pictures him seated in a chair holding a sceptre...

The picture reveals the exact office Constantine held at the time; the office of the consultate, dating the coin to AD 312. It also carries a mark revealing it was minted in London...

A photograph is on show in the Roman finds cabinet at the Acle Recreation and Social Club.

Another Roman coin found by Dave Clarke at the dig was a copper alloy coin known as a sestertius that depicts Roman emperor usurper Clodius Albinis and dates from AD 194-5. It has been put in the Springfield dig display unit in Acle Library.

Try the link up there, there are lots of surviving examples of ancient counterfeit coins; there’s also been a recent uptick in the modern counterfeiting of ancient coins.

The Roman army was paid in vinegar and salt (the term “salary” comes from “salarium”; still, some claim it means gold), over and above room and board; actual cash was paid after big paydays, such as accompany a successful campaign. The biggest such payday was Trajan’s conquest of Dacia, which is sometimes pointed to as the economic peak of the Roman Empire.

During the near-century of crisis, the various usurpers, claimants, and pretenders pretty consistently used minted coin (or rather, the promise thereof) and pay increases (or rather, the promise thereof) to win support of troops. If they couldn’t come up with it for whatever reason, they tended to have short careers (the predecessor of Septimius Severus mentioned above had that very problem, wound up wondering where his palace staff had suddenly got to, and discovered what he was last to find out as Roman soldiers hacked him to death.

Diocletian ended the crisis by reinstating in-kind pay for the Roman army, wiped out the remaining rival ‘emperors’, divided the Empire, set up a system of succession, stiffened the borders, (re)expanded the Empire here and there, and after more than twenty years of rule, retired and forced his colleague to retire, thus testing his system of succession.

Rome had an understanding of currency that eludes a lot of people today; coin was invented in Lydia, by the King thereof, and it came to replace other systems of trade by providing a common, sanctioned medium of exchange with the imprimatur of the ruler right on it.

It's interesting that the debasement of the silver coins begins already with the Antonines--Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, considered "Good Emperors." Of course it gets much worse under the Severi and then during the period from 235 to 284 which was marked by frequent civil wars, barbarians invasions, and many short-reigned emperors.

Diocletian tried to stop inflation with his famous Edict of Prices, which had as much impact on prices as Canute's command to the tide not to come in had on the tide.

Aristophanes in The Acharnians (425 B.C.) speaks of "counterfeit citizens," a metaphor presupposing that the Athenians hearing the play are familiar with the concept of counterfeit coins.

Diogenes the Cynic is said to have claimed that his father, as mint-master at Sinope, minted counterfeit coins. I have seen some silver coins of Sinope which had the initial letters of Diogenes' father's name on them and there was nothing wrong with them--perhaps he made up that story for its shock value.

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