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METAL DETECTORIST UNEARTHS U.K.'S OLDEST ROMAN COIN There are many articles around about coin finds, but this article from the BBC claims that a metal detectorist has unearthed the oldest roman coin found in the U.K., a silver denarius circa 207 B.C. -Editor Imagine finding a 2,000 year old Roman coin near the ancient path of the Ridgeway that had slipped from the fingers of a Celtic warrior in 207BC. Thatcham metal detectorist Malcolm Langford has discovered the UK's oldest Roman coin."It came out of the ground all brown, and I used a bit of spit and a bit of sheep's wool to clean it and it came up silver." Malcolm said he discovered the age of the coin when he took it, along with another Iron Age silver coin of Eppillus to the West Berkshire and Oxfordshire Finds Liaison Officer, Anni Byard, so she could record them. Anni immediately confirmed the Iron Age coin was only one of 11 that have been recorded in the UK and suspected the Roman coin, a Republican silver denarius, was quite rare.  She said: "I almost fell of my chair when I found out what date it was, it's in almost mint condition, which shows it was here much earlier than other Roman coins. "Historically it's a wonderful find and I think Malcolm should be very proud. The silver denarius depicts the helmeted head of Roma on the obverse and the galloping Dioscuri on the reverse. The coin was struck in Rome during the Republican period, just two years before the Roman general Scipio defeated Hannibal near Carthage. Republican silver denarii are often found in Britain, and although the coins began to be struck in Rome in 211 BC, this new coin appears to be the earliest denarius recorded from Britain, earlier than any of the 600 similar coins which have been recorded. Malcolm said: "I was so excited I was like a dog with six tails, I didn’t know which one to wag first!" To read the complete article, see: UK's oldest Roman Coin found in Thatcham (www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/content/articles/ 2009/07/24/roman_coin_feature.shtml) Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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