Notes on Three Hoards of Coins Recently Discovered in E Soutth F Scotlando H
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
HOARD F COINO S S DISCOVERE SOUTN I D F SCOTLANDHO 5 39 . III. NOTES ON THREE HOARDS OF COINS RECENTLY DISCOVERED IN E SOUTTH F SCOTLANDO H . BY GEORGE MACDONALD, M.A., LL.D., GCBATOR OE COINS. I. A HOARD OF LATE ROMAN COINS FOUND IN WIGTOWNSHIRE. On 29th October 1913 an interesting discovery of Roman coins was made at Batgreggan Quarry, in the parish of Stoneykirk. Three labourers in the employment of the Wigtownshire County Council were engaged in stripping the turf and soil from the top of the rock, when their o smalattentiotw r l o s attracteobject e nwa on f o y s db unusuan a l character lying amidst loose th e earth beinn O .g picked up and washed, these objects proved to be coins, which had been concealed in a small earthenware jug. As the result of a careful search, many more were recovered alln i , 9 alon11 ; g with some frag- ments of the jug, were voluntarily handed over to the Crown author- ities. From the archaeological point of view, the hoard presented some novel features, so far as Scotland was concerned, and it was accord- ingly decided that it should be retained intact for the Museum. At a later dat t transpireei d that ,tha 9 beed oveabovd 11 ha tn an re eth surrendered, there wer efew—sixa quite b o et , accurate—whicd hha found theiinty owa r private kindl s handswa I y .allowe examindo t e these, in order that this record might he complete. The fragment f pottero s y showe d bee g (figha d ju n ) tha1 .e th t mad f whitiso e h material, covered wit a blach r dark-browko n slip. When complete apparentld ha t i , y been about 3| inches higho N . part of the bottom remains ; but enough of the rest has survived to enable the accompanying sectional sketch to be executed under . Curie'0 . MA r s direction e greaTh t. majorit e cointh f so y were, like the vessel that had contained them, in exceedingly poor con- 396 PROCEEDING E SOCIETY, 191411 TH Y F . O S MA , dition e tas f identificatioTh o k . s ofte r frowa nfa n m n i easy t bu , the end all save four were deciphered with practical certainty. The bul f theo k m were " second brass, t ther"bu e werexampleo etw f o s Fig 1. Section of the Jug in which the Coins were contained, (f.) " first brass " and a small sprinkling of " third." The following list indicates their date distributiod san n :— Helena (306-328 A.D.) .... 1 Constantin e Greaeth t .(306-337 A.D.. ) 2 Constantius (335-361 A.D.) 31 Constans (337-350 A.D.) 24 Magnentius (350-353 A.D.) 61 Decentius (351-353 A.D.) 2 Uncertain ..... 4 125 The oldest coin—i appliee b mera e tery w th fwhao m edt ma no s i t fragment—is that assigned to Helena, mother of Constantine the Great ; for, of the two coins of Constantine himself, one was struck afte deaths hi r , whil e othere th s obversit ,r whicfo es typhha heaea d HOAKDS OF COINS DISCOVERE N SOUTDI F SCOTLANDHO 7 39 . of the city of Constantinople, was certainly not issued before 330 A.D. otheOe nth r hand t wili , notee b l d that nearly one-hal piecee th f o sf in the hoard bore the name of Magnentius. Clearly the centre of gravity r cannoremovefa e b t d fro e briemth f reig f thano t usurper. It is. of course, conceivable that some of the coins of Constantius e laterb y . ma Their relatively small number, however, points in the opposite direction, particularly when taken in connection wit e absency exampleth han f o ef Galluso s , appointed Csesar in 351, or of Julian the Apostate, who succeeded him in 354. Prob- ably, therefore e lateso cointh , tw f Decentiuso ts e pieceth e ar s , and a small group of the coins of Magnentius, the inscriptions on which make allusion to the appointment of Decentius as Csesar in 351. These facts seem to justify the assumption that concealment took place in or about 354. Under normal circumstances it would be dangerou o drat s preciso ws e datinferencn a eth f burial o eo t s a .e But under the later Eoman Empire the conditions of coinage were peculiar. Statistics of finds prove beyond question that the currency changed with extraordinary rapidity d tha t an i ,must t have been rare indee r commodfo n coin o continut s n circulatioi e lono s r g nfo as twenty or thirty years. Despite spasmodic efforts at reform, the epoch was one of steadily progressive monetary deterioration. The quality of each emperor's coins was worse than that of those of his predecessor, with the result that Gresham's Law was in perpetual operation—the bad money driving out the good. Hoards simila n compositioni r , though much large sizen i r , have previously been foun n Englandi d t a Cobha s a , m Par n Keni k t (Numismatic Chronicle, 1885, p. 108 ff.), and more recently at Croydon (ibid.. 1905, p. 36 fi.). But this is the first properly authenticated accoun anythinf o t sore th tf gfroo norte mth f Hadrian'ho s Walld an , e questioth n naturally arises whethe t i addr s anything definito t e our knowledg e histor r countrth f ou e o f yo y durin obscure gth e period 8 39 PROCEEDING SOCIETYE , 191411 TH Y F . O SMA , to which it belongs. There may be a temptation to regard it as indicativ Romaa f eo n occupatio e Mul th f Gallowaf o lno y aboue th t middl e fourtth f eo h centur r eraou . f yo But, whil e t ewouli b t dno inconsistent with suc hypothesisn ha slende o t formi , to r foundasfa ra - tion to support it. Roman coins passed current in regions where the writ of the Roman Government never ran. Hoards have been foun n Indiai d n GermanyI . s Tacitua , a well-know s n i tell s u s n passage, the semi-civilised tribes beyond the frontier employed the Roman currency freely. Doubtles e samth s e thing happenen i d Britain barriee Th . r that stretched from Tynt o Solwaet no s ywa like the wall of a beleaguered city. In normal times traders would pass and repass it frequently, carrying with them a stock of imperial money, as well as a supply of easily transported merchandise like the earthenware ju whicn gi e Balgreggahth n 'hoar originalls dwa y hidden away. HOARA . EDWARF II DO D PENNIES FOUNN DI KIRKCUDBRIGHTSHIRE. Novembeh On4t r 191 3a larg e hoar f Edwardo d pennie d conan s - temporary piece discoveres swa e far th f Craigengillan mo n do e th n i , Parish of Carsphairn, by a lad named James W. M'llwraith, who was engaged in cleaning surface drains. The precise spot was a marshy hollow on the Goat Craig Hill, about a mile and a half from the present farmhouse e coinsth d , an whic, d beehha n storeearthenwarn a n di e jug, were less than a foot below the surface. The jug was unfortun- ately broken into small pieces before M'llwraith noticed it, but the fragments recovered were sufficiently numerous to leave no doubt e . Curith 0 r . indebtes shapA fo em it a r size d o aI M an se,t . o dt accompanying sketch (fig. 2), which shows that the type was one common in the fourteenth century. The total number of coins collected by the original finder, and handed HOARDS OF COINS DISCOVERED IN SOUTH OF SCOTLAND. 399 over by him to the Exchequer, was 2209. A few others—thirteen in all—were subsequentl e groundyth n picken a I o hav .d p u dha e Pig. 2. Jug in which the Coins were contained. (J.) opportunit f examinino y e wholgth e 2222, wite resulth h t thaI t have been abl classifo et y the followms a s :— SCOTTISH SINGLE LONG-CKOSS PENNIES. Alexander III 60 John Balliol 9 Robert Bruce 3 LONO-CEOSS PENNY OF HENRY III. Oxford PENNIES OF EDWARD I., II. (AND III. ?). (a) Engliah. London ...... 1027 Canterbury ...... 590 Durham (with ecclesiastical m.m.) 125 Durham (without ecclesiastical m.m.) . 50 York (ecclesiastical) ..... 3 400 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MAY 11, 19H. York (ordinary) ...... 46 Robert de Hadelie (Bury St Edmunds) ... 5 Bury St Edmunds ...... 72 Bristol ... .... 47 Newcastle . .26 Lincoln . ... .16 Hull . ..... 8 . 6 . Cheste . r Exeter ........ 2 Berwick . ... 44 Doubtful ....... 2 (b) Irish. Dublin ........ 24 Waterford ....... 7 FOKEIGN STERLINGS. Various Mints ......1 5 . The great majority of the Scottish coins were in good condition, and some interesting minor varieties were represented. The number retained for the Museum was fourteen. The Edward pennies (only one of which—a Waterford specimen, without the triangle—was retained) furnished no new evidence for the chronological arrange- ment of this difficult series, although there was abundant confirma- tioe inference f mosth no f o t s drawn fro e finmth d mad n 191ei t 1a Blackhills (see Proceedings, xlv. p. 569 fi., and more particularly Numismatic Chronicle, 1913 . 57-118)pp , t wilI notee . b l d thae th t two hoards came from the same county, and that they are very simila n compositioni n d sizi r an e e maith , n difference being that at Craigengillan the Scottish pieces were, roughly, twice as numerous, e foreigth d nan sterlings, roughly, four time s numerousa s t a s a , Blackhills e sterlingTh .