A Hoard of 'radiate' Coins from Allington

A HOARD OF 'RAD IA TE' COINS FROM ALLINGTON JOHN A. DAVIES, B.A. This small hoard was found in 1907, at a location cited as 'near Allington Castle, between the railway and river (Medway)', near Maidstone. The coins are now in Maidstone Museum. The only previously published report is three lines in VCH (Kent), iii ( 1932), 144, describing the find of 'a small bulbous beaker (date 250-300 A.D.) which contained 22 "small brass" coins ofTetricus, several of which are barbarous (? Gaulish) copies'. Re-examination of this hoard has allowed a new assessment in the light of current research. The ceramic beaker, which remains intact, is discussed separately below. The hoard contains five official coins of the period A.D. 268-276. The Central Empire is represented by just two, one of Claudius II (A.D. 268-70) and one of Florian (A.D. 276). The other three are coins of the Gallic Empire, all ofTetricus II. The remaining 17 coins are all barbarous radiates, copies of official coins of the period A.D. 260-74. A distinctive feature of the hoard is that these are copies of Ga11ic Empire types only. Several of the Tetricus I coins are extremely good, accurate copies, although others are more typically degraded and stylised types. Four of the coins have a reduced module of minim classification (under 12 mm. diameter). The composition of the Allington hoard is of interest in the wider context of the study of the barbarous radiate coinage. A complete understanding of this 'unofficial' coinage still awaits more detailed research, but its historical context is secure. Debasement of the coinage in the third century reached its nadir under Gallienus and Claudius II, and it was the base metal antoniniani of this period that were copied in large numbers. Both Central Empire and GalHc Empire coins were copied, ranging from the late issues of Gallienus (notably his animal reverse types) and Claudius II, 137 JOHN A. DAVIES through to Probus. 1 All Gallic Emperors were represented, but most common were copies of Tetricus I, followed by Tetricus II and Victorious. This coinage circulated most profusely during the period between the fall of the Gallic Empire (A.D. 273) and the British Empire in A.D. 287, although some did continue in use much later. The term 'barbarous radiate' embraces a wide range of copies, from closely copied counterfeit coins of correct size, as evidenced at Whitchurch, 2 to very poor stylised types and minims that would not have been mistaken for their prototypes. Mr. G.C. Boon has outlined a chronological scheme embracing a gradual decline in standard and in size. 3 The best counterfeit types are placed contemporary with their prototypes, from A.D. 270-74, with a reduction in module occurring about A.D. 275. Minims are intrnduced in the scheme not before the reign of Probus, at about A.D. 276, continuing in production until A.D. 282-84. CATALOGUE Official coins CENTRAL EMPIRE RIC Claudius II I. IMP CLAVDIVS AVG MARS VLTOR 67 Florian 2. IMP C FLORIANVS A VG AEQVITAS AUG 25 GALLIC EMPIRE ELMER Tetricus II 3. C PIV ESV TETRICVS CAES SPES PVBLICA 769 4-5. Illegible ' For evidence of Proban copies see H.B. Mattingly, 'A Hoard of barbarous Radiates from Goring-on-Sea', Sussex Arch. Coll., cv (1967), 56-7 and G.C. Boon, 'The Counterfeiter's Deposit' in G. Wainwright, Coygan Camp, (1967), ll6-26. 2 G.C. Boon and P.A. Rahtz, 'Third-century Counterfeiting at Whitchurch, Somerset', Arch. Joum., cxxii (1966), 13-51. 3 G.C. Boon, op. cit., in note I. 138 'RADIATE' COINS FROM ALLINGTON Radiate Copies GALLIC EMPIRE Postumus 6. Salus Aug 17 mm.\; Victorious 7. Salus Aug 16 mm./1 Tetricus I 8-11. Pax Aug, vertical sceptre 15 mm. ✓ 17 mm. j 17 mm. J 14 mm. t 12. Pax Aug, transverse sceptre 15 mm. I 13. Laetitia Augg 15 mm. j 14. Salus Aug 17 mm. i 15-16. Illegible 15 mm. 16 mm. 17-18. Spes Aug 19-22. 22 TOTAL Tetricus II 14 mm. \, 13 mm "- Illegible minims 11 mm. 10 mm. 10 mm. 11 mm.'\ The Allington hoard belongs to a group of over 110 Roman hoards which include radiate copies in varying proportions. Twothirds of these hoards appear to have been deposited over a short span of about ten to fifteen years. The distribution of these hoards is mainly to the south and east of Britain, below a line drawn between the River Humber and the Gower Peninsula. Concentrations of hoards occur in East Anglia and in southern coastal parts, most notably around the Severn Estuary and the Sussex coast. There are two other published hoards from north Kent containing radiate copies. The Gillingham (1907) hoard contained 722 coins, but mainly fourth-century types, with just six radiate copies. 4 The nearest and most comparable hoard is from Hollingbourne, now in 4 VCH (Kent), iii (1932), 155; Arch. Cant, xxviii (1909), xcii-xciv. 139 JOHN A. DAVIES PLATE I • 1 2 3 4 •••• ••• 5 • • 9 􀀁 • 13 6 􀀂 i9 10 14 15 7 11 • 16 8 • • 12 • 17 18 The r􀁺diate Copies from the Allington Hoard. No. I Postumus: Salus Aug; no. 2, V1ctonnus: Salus Aug; nos. 3-4. Tctricus II, both Spcs Aug; nos 5-13, Tetricus I: 5, 6, 9-13, Pax Aug; 7, Laetitia Augg; 8, Salus Aug; nos. 14-17 Minims; no. \8 Minim from Silchester Hanis. 140 'RADIATE' COINS FROM ALLINGTON Maidstone Museum.5 Of 5,357 coins from Hollingbourne just 7 per cent are radiate copies but these 365 coins exhibit a similar range of types as are present at Allington despite the large numerical difference. Hollingboume, like Allington, has a lack of Central Empire copies, with just nine examples (2.5 per cent of the copies). The most common reverse type at Hollingbourne is Pax, forming 23.6 per cent of copies and at Allington it is 29 .4 per cent. The other most common types represented at Hollingbourne are Tetrican Spes and Salus types (approximately 14 per cent each) which are similarly the second most common at Allington (both 11.8 per cent). These reverse types are also among the most common present on most sites and in hoards generally. A difference in the nature of the two hoards becomes apparent with the smaller coins, notably minims, of Allington which are absent from the larger hoard. The degx:ee of wear on the Allington coins confirms that they represent a sample withdrawn from normal circulation, whilst the Hollingbourne hoard represents a selection of better coins, of larger module and high proportion of official coins, forming a store of wealth. There is no die-linking between the two hoards, or with the small number of local site-finds present at Maidstone Museum. Neither is there internal die-linking at Allington although this is less surprising in so sip.all a hoard. However, close comparison with Hollingbourne coins does reveal a very similar style of portraiture, especially with coins 5, 6, 7 and 8, on Plate I, which also compare well in size and regular shape. A further stylistic similarity involves the reverse of coin 17 on Plate I which is comparable to a very distinctive site find from Silchester, Rants. (Plate I, coin 18). Both are minims, lacking legend, showing a very stylised female figure who is holding a staff to the left. Such a link over a distance of 65 miles is not unusual in the light of die-links and style-links recorded by Professor H.B. Mattingly.6 It would suggest some aspect of minting in common. The absence of any die-linking reflects the overall profusion of this coinage and the range and diversity of types suggest widespread minting. Most of the Allington radiate copies approach the average size of 5 R.A.G. Carson, 'Hollingbourne Treasure Trove', Num. Chron., 7th series, i (1961), 211-23. 6 H.B. Mattingly, op. cit., in note I, and 'The Lightwood Hoard and the Coinage of barbarous Radiates', North Staffs. Journ. of Field Studies, iii (1963), 19-36. 141 JOHN A. DAVIES the official coins of this period, while the minims form a distinct group of their own (see Fig. 1). The die-axes are also distinctive. Within this unofficial coinage as a whole there was no overall attempt to emulate the 0° or 180° die-axis of the official coinage. In fact the arbitrary die-axes are a symptom which helps to diagnose coins as copies. However, in the nine coins of Tetricus I at AJiington, only six of which are well enough preserved to record their die-axes, four are 0° and one is 180°. These include the best copies, four of which are very good. All of the other Allington coins have arbitrary die-axes. This precision of die-axis, as well as diameter, good obverse portrait and well-engraved reverse, links coins 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. Similarly numbers 10, 11 and 12 can be grouped together both by size and by their crude angular busts of Tetricus I; and numbers 10 and 11 also by their reverses. Such groupings would suggest a common mint, probably shared with part of the Hollingbourne hoard in the former case, on stylistic grounds. With a total absence of archaeological evidence for manufacture in the south-east the nearest speculated unofficial mints are London,7 southern Sussex8 and at Richborough9 based on profusion of die-linking within and between hoards. Known axes of contact with Kent coins are shown· by two hoard coins. One example from Hollingbourne links closely in style with another from the Newgate Street hoard London and with a stray find from the Verulamium Theatre. 10 The second case involves a Richborough coin whic􀁹 links stylistically to the boards from Calverton (Notts.) and Mill Road, Worthing. 11 However, distinctive local features, as shown at Allington and in many other areas, suggest that these coins would have been struck on a local basis, resulting in the local styles and traits presented. The date of the container (see below) is in keeping with the circulatory date of this coinage. All 22 coins display a degree of wear which would suggest a period of circulation before burial. It is 7 R. Merrifield, 'The Lime Street (1952) Hoard of barbarous Radiates', Num. Chron., 6th series, xv (1955), 113-24. • H.B. Mattingly, op. cit., in note I. • H. Mattingly and W.P.D. Stebbing, 'The Richborough Hoard of Radiates' American Numismatic Soc., Notes and Monographs, lxxx (1938), 1-118. Internal dielinking is numerous enough to suggest some local minting. 10 H.B. Mattingly 'The Paternoster Row Hoard of barbarous Radiates' Num. Chron., 7th series, vii (1967), 66-7. 11 H.B. Mattingly op. cit., in note 10. 142 en z - 0 u LL 0 cc w al 􀀁 :::> z 5 4 3 2 1 'RADIATE' COINS FROM ALLINGTON MINIMS 10 11 12 DIAMETER : I 13 14 (MM) Fig. 1. 15 16 17 18 significant that the different sizes of coins present can be seen to have circulated together, all being withdrawn from circulation at the same time. This interesting hoard, comprised of coins of everyday use and of low intrinsic value, as opposed to a savings or treasure hoard, reflects the coinage circulating in the area at a date of c. A.D. 276-287. The absence of Proban minims and other later copies would suggest a date of about A.D. 280 and not the latter end of this period. The importance of his hoard is that it shows unofficial coins of varying quality and size, including minims, circulating together alongside the official coinage, as part of the same circulatory pool, in the period preceding the final phase and repression of radiate copies. 12 12 For evidence relating to a final repression of this coinage, see G.C. Boon, op. cit., in note 1, and 'A Roman Counterfeiter's Den', Proc. of the Univ. of Bristol Spelaeological Soc. (1972), 70-82. Also H.B. Mattingly 'The Sprotbrough Hoard of barbarous Radiates', Num. Chron., 141 (1982), 21-30. 143 JOHN A. DAVIES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks are due to Mr. D.B. Kelly of Maidstone Museum for his encouragement in writing this paper and for making available to me the Hollingboume hoard and other Kent coins for comparison. I should also like to thank Professor H.B. Mattingly for his invaluable comments on an earlier draft of this paper, although the author wishes to absolve him from the conclusions and emphases present in this work; and Julie Gardiner for her comments and help in preparation. THE CONTAINER Richard J. Pollard, B.A. The vessel is a 'bulbous beaker' with conical-restricting neck, everted rim, slightly angled shoulder and pedestal foot. It is in a wheel-thrown, medium-sandy grey ware with smoothed surfaces, possibly coated with a matt, pale, neutral slip (abraded). Form and fabric are exactly paralleled by Ospringe 57 and 11013 and by a vessel from Aylesford. 14 The type is one of a variety of necked 'bulbous beaker' types manufactured in colour-coated, white and grey wares both in Britain and Gaul from the late second- to the fourth/early fifth centuries. Specific grey ware parallels in Britain include Oxfordshire, 15 ?New Forest 16 and ?Colchester area 17 products, but the Allington vessel is most likely to be a product of the lower Thames 'BB2/grey ware' industries. 18 Grey ware 'bulbous beakers' are widespread in Kent; the angled-shoulder, sandy ware type represented here may be dated to the third to mid􀁬fourth centuries within this county, but later vessels may occur in other parts of Britain. The Allington vessel was thus interred during the fl.oruit of its type. 13 W. Whiting, W. Hawley and T. May, Excavations of the Roman Cemetery at Ospringe, Kent, Rep. Res. Comm. Soc. Antiq. London, viii (1931). 1• Unpublished; Maidstone Museum register, VII 1920. 15 C.J. Young, Oxfordshire Roman Pottery, BAR 43, (1977). Form R30. 16 M.G. Fulford, New Forest Roman Pottery, BAR 17, (1975). Grey Ware Type 2. 17 M.R. Hull, The Roman Potters' Kilns of Colchester, Rep. Res. Comm. Soc. Antiq. London, xxi, (1963). Form 395. 18 Cf. vessels from the pottery dump at Cooling, (inspection by kind permission of Mr. A. Miles); from Mucking, M.U. Jones and W.R. Rodwell 'The Romano-British Pottery Kilns at Mucking', Essex Arch. and Hist., series 3, v (1973), 13-47. Type R; and wasters from the Upchurch Marshes, I. Noel Hume 'Romano-British Potteries on the Upchurch Marshes', Arch. Cant., lxviii, (1954), 72-90, Fig. 3, nos. 4 and 5. 144