Free Republic

Lets answer the old question many numismatists make: "For how long did ancient coins circulate?" Lets take a look at some examples of Roman coins and hoards and try to come up with an answer.How long Did Roman Coins Stay in Circulation? | 18:38Classical Numismatics | 17.2K subscribers | 51,039 views | September 9, 2023

Silver sourced from the northern Mediterranean, as far away as the Iberian Peninsula, was used as a trade token throughout the region during the Late Bronze and Iron Age periods, with the supply slowing only occasionally.This, according to a team of French, Israeli and Australian scientists and numismatists who found geochemical evidence that allowed them to reconstruct the eastern Mediterranean silver trade over a period including the traditional dates of the Trojan War, the founding of Rome and the destruction of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem....the researchers explained that they used high-precision isotopic analysis to identify the ore sources of minute...

Brescello, the ancient municipium of Brixellum, is a small town in northern Italy near Modena. Originally, it was a Gallic settlement on banks of the Po River that was romanized after the area was annexed by the Roman republic...It was in this city that in the year 1714 one of the most remarkable numismatic discoveries ever recorded took place. A peasant, while ploughing a field, accidentally found a vessel containing about 80,000 republican aurei, that is, approximately 650kg of pure gold!The treasure was composed entirely of only 32 varieties of types coined between the years 46 and 38 BC, so...

The Beau Street Hoard was excavated by archaeologists on the site of the Gainsborough Hotel in Beau Street, Bath in 2007 and is one of the most remarkable archaeological discoveries to have been made in Bath.The Beau Street Hoard is on permanent public display in an interactive exhibit within the People of Aquae Sulis Gallery. The 17,577 Roman coins span the period from 32BC – 274AD and were found in eight separate money bags, which were fused together. In March 2014 Bath & North East Somerset Council was awarded a grant of £372,500 from The Heritage Lottery Fund to purchase...

Switzerland has minted the smallest gold coin the world has ever seen, state-owned Swissmint announced Thursday. The 2.96-millimeter (0.12-inch) gold coin, weighing only 0.063 grams (¹⁄500th of an ounce), is so small the viewer needs to squint closely to see world-famous physicist Albert Einstein sticking his tongue out. The coin has a nominal value of ¼ of a Swiss franc (26¢, €0.23) and can be ordered online. According to Swissmint, 999 of the coins have been made, and a single coin will be sold for 199 francs and accompanied with a special magnifying glass so owners can see Einstein. …

France recently seized an unannounced number of third century A.D. Roman gold coins as well as an ancient gold plate allegedly with a pedigree linking the material to the Lava Treasure... first encountered about 25 years ago when three Corsicans diving for sea urchins spotted gold in the shallow waters there... the official French national police statement released Oct. 27 in which it says, "This submerged treasure, identified as a maritime cultural asset, belongs to the state." ...As Ancient Coin Collectors Guild spokesman Wayne G. Sayles commented in the October 2010 issue of The Celator magazine, "[coins are] utilitarian objects...