Find: The brothel token, right, which is slightly smaller than a pound coin. It goes on display at the Museum of London
Amateur archeologist: Regis Cursan, 37, discovered the brothel token near Putney Bridge, West London, at low tide
Posted on 01/16/2012 7:09:52 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Made from bronze and smaller than a ten pence piece, the coin depicts a man and a woman engaged in an intimate act.
Historians believe it is the first example of a Roman brothel token to be found in this country.
It lay hidden in mud for almost 2,000 years until it was unearthed by an amateur archaeologist with a metal detector.
On the reverse of the token is the numeral XIIII, which experts say could indicate the holder handed over 14 small Roman coins called asses to buy it.
This would have been the equivalent of seven loaves of bread or one day's pay for a labourer in the first century AD.
The holder would then have taken the token to one of the many Londinium brothels and handed it to a sex slave in exchange for the act depicted on the coin...
Experts say there is a possibility it could also be a gaming token -- although it would be the only one in Britain to display such an explicit illustration.
Historians believe that the use of a specific image was necessary because many of the brothel slaves would not have been fluent in Latin so needed a picture to know what service their client required.
It is also thought that tokens were a way of ensuring none of the customers' money went directly to the prostitutes.
Experts say it was also illegal to take Roman coins into a brothel during the reign of first century emperor Tiberius as they carried his image.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Find: The brothel token, right, which is slightly smaller than a pound coin. It goes on display at the Museum of London
Amateur archeologist: Regis Cursan, 37, discovered the brothel token near Putney Bridge, West London, at low tide
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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It's not heavy, it's for brothels. |
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Yeah, right, whatever. What kind of sex slave wouldn't have the gift of tongues???
An eye for an eye, an a$$ for....
Nevermind, the participants are facing each other.
Gift? No freebies! Come back when you have the right coin.
Or, $500 in this economy today.
How appropriate to use a coin called “ass” to pay for some.
Gee, I didn’t know that Berlusconi was that old!
The second oldest profession? With it’s own coin? Wow.
would buying the coin with asses,,then trading it for sex,,be the first use of,,,,”buying a piece of ass?”
Post of the week...
“the gift of tongues”
Nope, that was BC (before Bill Clinton).
a Yankees fan
Gee, I am surprised that the Romans had brothels in Britain since the entire country was then little more than a brothe1.
Must be why they’re called pieces of ass.
The prostitutes were all slaves, and drawn from ethnic minorities — that must be why these objects came to be called tokens. ;’)
Veni, Vidi, Itchy
It`s a Bronze 3rd Place Medal of the Roman Epicurean Olympic Games held in London A.D. 100.
LMAO
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