Hoxne Treasure Roman Province Britain Gold Silver 14,780 Coins Jewelry Tableware

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Seller: ancientgifts ✉️ (5,439) 100%, Location: Lummi Island, Washington, US, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 122590808749 Hoxne Treasure Roman Province Britain Gold Silver 14,780 Coins Jewelry Tableware. REVIEW : The Hoxne hoard is one of the richest Roman treasures ever to have been discovered. “The Hoxne Treasure” by Roger Bland and Catherine Johns. The hoard is one of the richest Roman treasures ever to have been discovered.

  “The Hoxne Treasure” by Roger Bland and Catherine Johns.

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  DESCRIPTION:  Softcover.  Publisher: British Museum  (1993).  Pages: 32.  Size:  7½ x 5 inches.  Summary:     This illustrated booklet gives an account of the discovery, excavation and conservation of the Hoxne hoard. The hoard is one of the richest Roman treasures ever to have been discovered. Found in a field in Suffolk in 1992, it consisted of 14,780 coins and 200 gold and silver objects. Because archaeologists were able to lift the deposit in sections without separating groups of items, the hoard provided a rare insight into the actions of the original owner. He or she must have carefully packed the money, gold jewelry, silver tableware and toilet objects, before burying them for safety during the troubled period that followed the breakdown of Roman rule in Britain in the early 5th century. This book is a full, illustrated introduction to this early 5th century treasure.

CONDITION:  NEW. New oversized softcover. British Museum (1993) 32 pages. Unblemished, unmarked, pristine in every respect. Pages are pristine; clean, crisp, unmarked, unmutilated, tightly bound, unambiguously unread. Satisfaction unconditionally guaranteed. In stock, ready to ship. No disappointments, no excuses. PROMPT SHIPPING! HEAVILY PADDED, DAMAGE-FREE PACKAGING! #1399a.

PLEASE SEE DESCRIPTIONS AND IMAGES BELOW FOR DETAILED REVIEWS AND FOR PAGES OF PICTURES FROM INSIDE OF BOOK.

PLEASE SEE PUBLISHER, PROFESSIONAL, AND READER REVIEWS BELOW.

  PUBLISHER REVIEWS: 

  REVIEW:  The Hoxne hoard is one of the richest Roman treasures ever to have been discovered. The 14,780 coins and 200 gold and silver objects were found in a field in Suffolk in 1992 and excavated by the Suffolk Archaeological Unit. This illustrated booklet gives an account of the discovery, excavation and conservation of the Hoxne hoard. Because archaeologists were able to lift the deposit in sections without separating groups of items, the hoard provided a rare insight into the actions of the original owner. He or she must have carefully packed the money, gold jewelry, silver tableware and toilet objects, before burying them for safety during the troubled period that followed the breakdown of Roman rule in Britain in the early 5th century.

REVIEW:  Roger Bland is Head of Portable Antiquities and Treasure at the British Museum. He is the co-author of “The Staffordshire Hoard” and “The Frome Hoard”, both published by the British Museum.

REVIEW:  Roger was formerly a curator in the Department of Coins and Medals and was seconded to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport from 1994 to 2003. Roger is responsible for the Portable Antiquities Scheme, a project to record all archaeological objects found by the public in England and Wales, and for the Museum’s operation of the Treasure Act and in 2012 he was appointed Keeper of the Department of Prehistory and Europe.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Acknowledgements.

Introduction.

Treasure Trove.

Discovery and Excavation.

Evidence for the Containers.

The Coins.

The Gold Jewelry.

The Silver Objects.

The Inscriptions.

Future Work.

Further Reading.

    READER REVIEWS: 

  REVIEW:  Lovely book. Gives a good overview. Pictures are excellent!

REVIEW:  A very nice introduction to this hoard. Wonderful photographs!

  ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND: 

  REVIEW:  Discovered in 1992, the Hoxne treasure was dutifully reported to the Suffolk County Council, owners of the land, and professionally removed the next day by the Suffolk Archaeological Unit. The day after that, it was taken to the British Museum, where the large sections that had been excavated could be separated and the items conserved and cataloged. Because archaeologists had been involved in the discovery almost from the beginning, it was possible to preserve items, such as fragments of woven textile and tiny fragments of silver sheet, that otherwise might have been lost.

  On September 3, 1993, the find at Hoxne was declared treasure trove, that is, objects of gold or silver that had been hidden with the intention of recovery but for which the original owner could not be found. Such discovery is to be reported to the police and subject to a coroner's inquest. If the find is declared treasure trove, it reverts to the Crown and can be acquired by a museum on payment of a sum equal to its full market value. This amount then is passed on to the finder as a reward.

  The Hoxne treasure consisted of coins, and gold and silver objects. They had been buried in a wooden chest, only the iron fittings of which survive. Inside were silver locks from smaller caskets and traces of the textile and hay in which some of the objects had been wrapped.

  There are some 14,780 coins: 565 gold, 14,191 silver, and 24 bronze. The gold coins all are solidi and are ninety-nine percent pure. Most were struck between AD 394 and 405, when Honorius ruled the western empire and his brother Arcadius, the eastern. They come from thirteen different mints and represent eight different emperors. None of the gold coins were more than fifty years old before they were buried and so are in excellent condition.

  The great bulk of the coins are silver siliquae and were minted between AD 358 and 408. They represent fifteen different emperors and come from thirteen different mints throughout the empire (curiously, hoards of siliquae from this time have been found only in Britannia and Dacia). Some of the denominations (miliarenses) are quite uncommon, and five have not been represented before. Two siliquae of the usurper Constantine III (AD 407-411) can be dated to when he first came to power. Their burial had to occur sometime afterward, when Rome effectively was abandoning control of Britain. Although no new coins entered the province after Constantine, it is not certain how long existing ones continued to be used. But it is unlikely to have been for more than thirty years, and a probable date of burial is conjectured to be no later than AD 450.

    At least eighty percent of the siliquae had been clipped around the edges, a phenomenon apparently unique to Britain and likely only because of the breakdown of Roman authority there. Sometime, as much as half the coin was removed, although the portrait of the emperor never was defaced. It may have been that the coins were clipped to allow those already in the province to remain in circulation longer and still provide the precious metal necessary for forgeries.

  Aside from the coins, there were two hundred pieces of gold jewelry and silver tableware. The twenty-nine pieces of jewelry all are of very pure gold (more than 22 carat). They include rings, the stones of which had been removed before burial, and necklaces, which would have been worn with pendants that also had been removed. One of the rarest pieces of jewelry is a gold chain that was worn over the shoulders and under the arms, joined at the front and back by decorative brooches.

  Nineteen bracelets also were found, all designed to be slipped over the hand. They include two sets of four matching pieces, a matching pair, as well as a large armlet that would have been worn on the upper arm. Some have figures of animals and huntsmen in low relief, others are delicately pierced in geometric patterns or ribbed like basket weave. The most important is a bracelet dedicated to its wearer.

  The silver pieces include seventy-eight spoons, twenty ladles (two sets of ten, one incorporating the Christian Chi-Rho monogram), and a number of smaller objects, including a tigress. The spoons are of two known types: cochlearia, which have a bowl larger than a teaspoon and a long, pointed handle; and ligulae, which are the size of a tablespoon but with a very short coiled handle, as well as a completely new type. Some are inscribed with the name of their owner, Aurelius Ursicinus. There also are four piperatoria (pepper pots), one in the form a bust with a disk inside which could be rotated to sprinkle the pepper. A remarkable treasure, happily recovered by professional archaeologists, and now in the British Museum. [University of Chicago].

REVIEW:  On November 16, 1992, there was discovered by a farmer in his field at Hoxne in Suffolk County, England, one of the largest Roman treasures ever discovered in Britain. Prompt notification of authorities resulted in proper, professional excavation. The hoard was immediately taken to the British Museum for conservation awaiting its final disposition.

  The treasure consists of 565 gold coins, 24 bronze coins, 14,191 silver coins, and about 200 other gold and silver objects buried in a wooden chest in the early fifth century A.D. The contents are in a remarkably good state of preservation, many of the coins being like new. The some 14,780 coins make this the largest hoard of Roman coins discovered. The gold coins are all solidi and come from eight different emperors between Valentinian I and Honorius, with most coming from the reigns of Arcadius and Honorius between 394 and 405.

  There are sixty rare silver miliarenses, including the oldest coin in the hoard (from Constantine II, A.D. 337-340) and five unpublished specimens. The obverses contain some of the finest examples of imperial portraiture of the period, and a few reverses show the emperor holding an imperial standard on which appears the chi-rho monogram. The vast majority of the coins are silver siliquae, representing fifteen different emperors and coming from thirteen different mints (from Trier to Antioch) between 358 and 408, and [End Page 217] including two of the latest Roman coins found in Britain (from the usurper Constantine III, A.D. 407-8).

  There are twenty-nine pieces of jewelry (necklaces, rings, bracelets) in very pure gold. One necklace chain has a tiny monogram cross worked in filigree on the fastener. One of the nineteen bracelets contains an inscription, VTERE FELIX DOMINA IVLIANE ("Use [this] happily lady Julian"). The silver objects in the hoard include tableware (seventy-eight spoons, twenty ladles, four pepper-pots, one of which is in the form of a bust of an empress, five bowls, two vases), nine toilet implements (toothpicks and ear-cleaners), and two small padlocks. Seven personal names appear on objects in the hoard, most common being Ursicinus (ten times on a set of matching spoons), perhaps the name of the owner of the treasure.

  The religious inscriptions on the jewelry and tableware, twenty-four in all, are all Christian. In addition to the common chi-rho monogram, one spoon is engraved with the common Christian phrase, VIVAS IN DEO ("May you live in God"). The Hoxne hoard thus adds significant evidence for Christianity in late Roman Britain.

REVIEW:  The Hoxne Hoard is the largest cache of late Roman gold found anywhere in the Roman Empire. Discovered by a metal detectorist in Suffolk, in the east of England in 1992 CE, the incredible collection contains 14,865 late-4th  and early-5th century CE Roman gold, silver and bronze coins, and 200 items of silver tableware and gold jewelery. The hoard amounts to a total of 7.7lb of gold and 52.4 lb of silver, and its current value is estimated at around $4.3 million.

 

  As the finder reported his discovery immediately, the cache was professionally excavated by archaeologists and conserved soon afterward so the vital context of the objects and their condition were preserved. Thanks to the coins in the hoard, we know that the items were deposited in the early-5th century CE, right at the end of the Roman occupation of Britain, which tells us a great deal about an important period in the history of the country when Roman rule was breaking down and a new age was approaching.

  On November 16, 1992 CE, retired gardener and amateur metal detectorist Eric Lawes was scanning a field southwest of the village of Hoxne in Suffolk, England, on the lookout for a hammer which the local tenant farmer Peter Whatling had lost. Whilst searching for the hammer Lawes stumbled upon a cache of metal objects including gold chains, silver spoons and coins, some of which he dug out and packed into two carrier bags, before notifying Whatling of his spectacular find.

  Lawes and Whatling decided to report the discovery to the landowners, Suffolk County Council, who due to the importance of the finds, promptly organized an excavation of the site. The excavation, undertaken by Suffolk County Council Archaeology Service (SCCAS), took place the next day in secret in case the location of the hoard became known and the site looted.

  The Hoxne Hoard is now in the British Museum and the most important items are on display in a perspex reconstruction of the oak chest and inner boxes in which they were originally deposited. Somehow, though, the story got out and on November 19 the British tabloid newspaper The Sun splashed the story across its front page along with a picture of Lawes and his metal detector and a claim that the treasure was worth £10 million. In characteristically obtuse fashion the paper also announced the prize of a metal detector to anyone who could answer the question ‘who built Hadrian’s Wall? Hadrian, Barretts or Wimpey?’. Meanwhile the excavated treasure from Hoxne, along with Peter Whatling's missing hammer, was taken to the British Museum in London.

  The unwanted publicity surrounding the find forced the British Museum to hold a press conference on November 20 announcing the discovery, which served to dampen the interest of the newspapers and permitted the curators at the museum to begin to categorize and clean the artifacts from the hoard. Further excavations in and around the findspot took place in September 1993, and also in 1994 due to illegal metal detecting around the site.

  On September 3, 1993, a Coroner's inquest declared the Hoxne Hoard a treasure trove, in other words, the treasure was deemed to be of unknown ownership and to have been hidden with the intention of being recovered later. In November the Treasure Trove Reviewing Committee valued the hoard at £1.75 million (today £2.66 million or $4.3 million), which was paid to Eric Lawes as finder of the treasure. Lawes generously shared his reward with farmer Peter Whatling (which it is now a legal requirement to do). The Hoxne Hoard is now in the British Museum and the most important items are on display in a perspex reconstruction of the oak chest and inner boxes in which they were originally deposited.

  The excavations at Hoxne found that the hoard had been contained inside a rectilinear feature, interpreted as being the decayed remains of a wooden chest that once held the objects. Other fragments recovered by the archaeologists, including box fittings such as hinges and locks, showed that the finds had been carefully organized into separate wooden boxes and fabric containers inside the larger oak chest. Such meticulous packing was one of the reasons why the objects were so well preserved when recovered. Archaeologists also uncovered an undated post hole, which may once have held a wooden post which served as a marker for the burial spot of the hoard.

  The fabulously rich contents of the Hoxne Hoard include 569 gold coins,14,191 silver coins and 24 bronze coins. The gold coins (all solidi of about 4.5 grams of gold per coin) date to the reigns of eight different emperors between Valentinian I (reigned 364–75 CE) and Honorius (reigned 395–423 CE). Most of the coins in the hoard were silver siliquae (small, thin, Roman silver coins produced from 4th century CE onwards) of which there were a staggering 14,212. There were also 60 silver miliarenses (large silver coins introduced by Constantine I) and 24 bronze nummi (low value coins).

 

  The coins from the Hoxne Hoard provide extremely helpful dating evidence for its deposition, the oldest coin in the collection is a well-worn miliarensis of Constantine II (Roman Emperor from 337 - 340 CE) and the latest two siliquae of the usurper Constantine III (reigned 407-8 CE). Thus the hoard must have been buried some time after 407-408 CE, and although we do not know how long existing coins remained in circulation it is unlikely to have been for more than perhaps 30 years, giving a probable date for the deposit of the hoard of not later than 450 CE.

  Just as important for giving us information about the Hoxne Hoard are the mint marks stamped on many of the coins, which identify where in the Roman Empire they were minted. 14 different mints are represented in the Hoxne Hoard :Trier, Arles and Lyon (in Gaul - modern France), Aquileia, Milan, Ravenna, and Rome (Italy); Siscia (modern Croatia), Sirmium (modern Serbia), Thessaloniki (Greece), Constantinople, Nicomedia, Cyzicus, and Antioch (modern Turkey).

  The hoard contains 29 pieces of stunning gold jewelry: a gold body chain, six chain necklaces, three finger rings and 19 bracelets. One of the bracelets bears the inscription, VTERE FELIX DOMINA IVLIANE ("Use [this] happily lady Juliane"), which obviously indicates the name of the owner Juliane. The body chain from the hoard is a fascinatingly rare object, which would have been passed over the shoulders and under the arms of the wearer, to be fixed in place by two clasps.

  There are two decorative clasps where the chains join, on the front one there is an amethyst surrounded by four garnets and four empty settings which once probably held pearls (which have since decayed), and on the back a gold coin of Emperor Gratian (reigned 375-383 CE) set into a gold frame. The small size of the Hoxne body chain suggest it would only fit a very slim young woman or an adolescent girl. Interestingly, the gold frame of the coin was a reused pendant, perhaps a century old when incorporated into the elaborate body chain, suggesting a family heirloom.

  The collection of magnificent silver objects from the hoard consist of 78 exquisitely crafted spoons, 20 gilded and decorated ladles, four extremely rare pepper-pots, five bowls, two vases, nine toilet implements (toothpicks and ear-cleaners), and two padlocks from now decayed small wooden caskets. A number of the spoons are decorated with a Christian monogram cross or Chi-Rho symbol, and one is engraved with the common Christian phrase, VIVAS IN DEO ("May you live in God"). One of the gold necklaces also bears a Chi-Rho symbol. Such inscriptions must certainly attest to the Christian beliefs of their owners and add important evidence for Christianity in late Roman Britain.

  One set of ten silver spoons from the hoard are inscribed with the personal name 'Aurelius Ursicinus', but although this is the most common name in the hoard there is no evidence that this was the name of the owner of the objects. One of the most spectacular of the silver items is the handle in the form of a prancing tigress with niello stripes and a long tail, which seems to have been purposely detached from a large vessel before deposition.

  Perhaps the most celebrated item in the whole hoard is known as the 'Empress' pepper pot, a silver pepper or spice container of about 7.5 cm (3 inches) in height in the form of a hollow female half-figure. The figure's clothing, jewelry and intricate hairstyle are gilded and beautifully crafted. There is an internal disc in the base of the figure which can be rotated to be completely open for filling with pepper or other spices, partially open for sprinkling on food, or completely closed.

  Although initially believed to represent a Roman Empress, specialists now believe that the 'Empress' pepper-pot depicts a wealthy Roman aristocrat, perhaps even the Lady Juliane who owned the inscribed gold bracelet from the hoard. Pepper was an incredibly rare but popular commodity to the Romans, it was not grown anywhere in their Empire, so had to be imported from India across the Indian Ocean and up the Red Sea to Egypt, and then across the Mediterranean to Italy and Rome.

  As with the Staffordshire Hoard there is no evidence for contemporary buildings and certainly no rich Roman villas in the immediate vicinity of the location of the Hoxne Hoard. The closest Roman occupation in the area is at Scole, where a Roman Road known as Pye Road (the modern A140) crosses the River Waveney, about 3.2 km (2 miles) to the north-west of the find spot. 8 km (5 miles) south-west of the location of the Hoxne Hoard there is evidence for a Roman settlement at Stoke Ash, also located on the Pye Road.

   

  Both Scole and Stoke Ash have been suggested as the location of the Villa Faustini, a site mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary, a written description began in the 3rd century CE describing the Roman Empire's major roads and stations upon them, which includes 15 routes in Britain. The Villa Faustini was obviously an estate owned by a man named Faustinus, but where exactly it was located and who Faustinus was is unknown.   However, the Hoxne Hoard is not a completely isolated find. In 1781 CE laborers discovered a lead box close to the River Dove in Eye, about 3 km to the south west of Hoxne. The box contained about 600 Roman gold coins dating between the reigns of Valens and Valentinian I (reigned 364–375 CE) and Honorius (393–423 CE). Unfortunately, the coins have long since been scattered amongst various private collectors and are almost impossible to trace. Whether this hoard was related to the Hoxne cache or not it does perhaps suggest something else.

  Dr. Peter Guest, Senior Lecturer in Roman Archaeology at Cardiff University, and author of The late Roman Gold and Silver Coins from the Hoxne Treasure (see bibliography) has noted the concentration of late Roman hoards in East Anglia and suggests in the book ‘an entrenched cultural tradition of deliberately and permanently abandoning precious metal in the ground’. In this hypothesis hoards in the area would have been votive deposits, although Guest has also suggested an alternative theory that argues that the Hoxne hoard was deposited because the objects in it were used as part of a gift-exchange system, which broke down when the Romans left Britain.   Another possibility is that the Hoxne Hoard represents the loot from a robbery, concealed by the thief who was, for whatever reason, unable to return to recover it. However, the simplest explanation for the presence of the Hoxne Hoard is that it was deposited by a wealthy family in an isolated spot for safekeeping after 407 CE in uncertain, even dangerous times as Roman soldiers were departing from Britain.

  Perhaps the family had to leave Britain in a hurry during this turbulent period, which is why they were not able to retrieve their treasure. Or at least not all of it. Researchers have noted that some common types of Roman jewelery are absent from the hoard, and the types of large silver tableware objects found in the Mildenhall Treasure, which a wealthy Roman family would surely have owned, were also missing. Fabulously rich as it is, the Hoxne Hoard may only represent part of an even greater treasure.

  REVIEW:  Nearly 20 years after its discovery in a Suffolk field, the Hoxne Hoard remains one of the largest caches of Roman gold and silver ever found anywhere in the Roman Empire. It was found on 16 November 1992 by Mr Eric Lawes, who was using his metal detector to find a lost hammer. The small hole he excavated when his detector registered a strong signal turned out to be full of gold chains, silver spoons and coins, which he then loaded into two carrier bags, before wisely pausing for thought. His decision to stop digging and to report the find promptly to the landowner, the police, and the Suffolk Archaeology Society meant Jude Plouviez and her team from the Suffolk County Council Archaeology Service (SCCAS) were able to excavate the hoard scientifically, lifting whole blocks of material form the sandy Suffolk soil for detailed excavation under laboratory conditions.

  They did so under conditions of great secrecy on 17 November 1992, but the story nevertheless got out. The Sun published news of the find on its front page on 19 November and offered its readers a metal detector as a prize for answering the question ‘who built Hadrian’s Wall? Hadrian, Barretts or Wimpey?’ Two years later, Kevin Forrest, also of the SCCAS, excavated an area around the find spot. Prehistoric pits and pottery, flints and postholes were found, as were Medieval coarse-wares and a possible boundary ditch. Of the late Roman period to which the hoard belongs, all that was found was a rectilinear feature interpreted as the burial site of the box that contained the treasure, plus one undated posthole that might have been contemporary with the hoard, and that might have held a post intended as a marker for the burial spot.

 

  Thus, like the Mildenhall Treasure found in 1942, or like the more recently discovered Staffordshire Hoard, excavation of the find site has provided no clues as to why that particular spot was chosen for the burial of a wooden chest containing 29 pieces of gold jewellery, a dozen silver vessels, nearly 100 silver spoons and about 40 additional silver objects; not to mention a cache of 14,865 gold and silver coins from the late 4th and early 5th centuries, the latest of which, minted in AD 407-408, gives us the date after which the hoard must have been buried.

  This date, perhaps, is what may be the clue as to why the hoard was buried.  Roman influence in Britain was coming to an end as soldiers left to defend the empire on mainland Europe;  it may well have been a period of turbulence and conflict.  Anyone fearful for their family’s wealth in a time of possible violent change may well have decided to play it safe and bury their valuables for safekeeping. However, no evidence of a Roman villa has been found in the immediate vicinity of the find spot. There are, however,  Roman dwellings  two miles to the north west at Scole, where the Roman road crosses the River Waveney, and five miles to the south west at Stoke Ash. Both settlements have been identified as possible locations of the Villa Faustini mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary, which names settlements and distances along the various roads of the Roman Empire.

  Peter Guest, author of The late Roman Gold and Silver Coins from the Hoxne Treasure notes that 4th- to 5th-century hoards are almost exclusively found in south-western and eastern England, and strikingly concentrated in East Anglia. He argues for ‘an entrenched cultural tradition of deliberately and permanently abandoning precious metal in the ground’. The people of this region are, after all, descended from pre-Roman tribes who routinely buried swords, shields, axes and other forms of metalwork as part of their religious practice — though, in the case of Bronze Age hoards, there does seem to be a much stronger correlation between the burial site and landscape features such as streams, springs, conspicuous rocks, and natural boundaries.

  On the other hand, Catherine Johns, whose book The Hoxne Late Roman Treasure: Gold Jewellery And Silver Plate was published this year, suggests the hoard of treasure may have belonged to a single family and that it was buried for safekeeping. She argues that the chest contents were chosen because they were not in regular use. Some  were already of considerable age by the time they were buried, including two 100-year-old silver spoons, both heavily worn, and one having an ancient repair. Some seem to have been kept for their aesthetic or sentimental value, including rings that lack their gemstones and pendants without chains.

  The beautiful silver vessel handle, cast in the form of a tigress with niello stripes and a long tail, had long ceased to be of any practical value, having become detached from its parent vase. The four wonderful silver pepper pots were damaged in antiquity and had been dissassembled before burial. The overall sense is of a group of objects that possess value as bullion, but that might also be objects with sentimental significance — too fraught with meaning and memory to trade in for cash or to melt down and recast in new form, but not items of day-to-day use and importance to the owner. Even the relatively new objects in the hoard do not contradict this theory: new spoons and ladles were packed in tightly-bound bundles in a way that suggests they had never been used.

  One of the treasures is the so-called Juliane bracelet, that bears the inscription UTERE FELIX DOMINA IULIANE (‘Use [this and be] happy, Lady Juliane’). Could this be the lady of the household? Was she living in fear for her family and her fortune in dangerous and uncertain times? One can only speculate.

REVIEW:  On November 16, 1992, Peter Whatling, a tenant farmer in Suffolk, England, lost a hammer somewhere in his fields. He asked his friend Eric Lawes, who owned a metal detector, to bring his machine out to the field to search for it. The metal detector buzzed over a particular plot of ground. Instead of finding Peter Whatling’s hammer, though, they found a silver spoon that looked quite old. Digging further, the two men discovered some more curious items: pieces of gold jewelry and antique coins. Wondering if they had found something historically or archaeologically significant, they notified local authorities, who came out the next day and unearthed an incredible treasure.

  What became known as the Hoxne Hoard–Hoxne’s the village it was found in, and it’s pronounced “Hoxon”–was a fabulous cache of treasure from the late Roman/early Byzantine era. There are 15,000 coins, about 100 spoons and ladles, 29 pieces of gold jewelry, silver vases, beakers and bowls, a pepper pot (forerunner of the pepper shaker) cast to resemble a stately woman, and, most curiously, a silver tigress emphasizing six prominent teats. The exact function of this object isn’t entirely known, though it’s suspected to be the handle of something. And yes, they did find Peter Whatling’s hammer.

   

  Judging from metallurgical analysis and the dates of the coins, the treasure appears to have been buried in the early part of the 5th century A.D./C.E. This period coincides with the violent upheaval that was occurring in the British Isles as a result of the collapse of Roman authority. Several coins in the Hoxne Hoard are what we would call Byzantine, pertaining to what was then the eastern half of the Roman Empire (the western half would “fall”  476). Some of the coins depict Constantine II, the son of Constantine the Great, who founded the Byzantine Empire and named its capital (formerly called Byzantium or Byzantion) after himself. The hoard was found inside the remains of an oak box and various items were arranged on top of each other, indicating that they were carefully packed inside this box before burial.

  The “pepper pot” on the right is called the Empress because it was originally thought to depict a Roman empress; now experts think it represents an aristocratic lady, perhaps one of the original owners of the Hoxne treasure. But who buried the treasure? And why? We can’t ever know that. The social and economic system of post-Roman Britain was extremely complex. The owners of the treasure, perhaps a wealthy landowner and his wife–there are Roman names inscribed on some of the items–might have buried it to keep it out of the hands of brigands or thieves. Or thieves themselves might have buried it, after looting the stuff from a wealthy estate. It might have been buried to de-emphasize the owners’ formerly Roman identity, though to me this sounds a bit of a stretch.

  Clearly something unusual was going on in this part of England at that time. The Hoxne Hoard is not the only buried treasure from this era found in the area. In 1781 a lead box full of Roman coins was unearthed just 2 miles from where the Hoxne treasure was eventually found. Other similar hoards have been found in various parts of Britain, and some may remain undiscovered. What caused rich people to suddenly run around burying boxes of treasure all over the place? This is a fascinating historical mystery; perhaps archaeologists or historians will solve it someday. The Hoxne Hoard is now one of the star collections in the British Museum, having been acquired in 1994. Peter Whatling’s hammer is also officially part of the collection. No, really! It is!

REVIEW:  The Hoxne treasure is the largest find of late Roman silver and gold in Britain, and the largest collection of gold and silver coins of the fourth and fifth century found anywhere in the Roman Empire. The treasure was found by metal detector in the village of Hoxne in Suffolk, England, on 16 November 1992. The hoard consists of 14,865 Roman gold, silver and bronze coins from the late fourth and early fifth centuries, and about 200 items of silver tableware and gold jewelry.

  The objects are now in the British Museum in London, where the most important pieces and a selection of the rest are on permanent display. In 1993, the Treasure Valuation Committee valued the hoard at £1.75 million (today £2.57 million). The hoard was buried as an oak box or small chest filled with items in precious metal, with some in smaller wooden boxes and others in bags or wrapped in fabric. Remnants of the chest, and of fittings such as hinges and locks, were recovered in the dig. The coins date the hoard to after AD 407, about the end of Britain as a Roman province.

  The owners and reasons for burial of the hoard are unknown, but it was carefully packed and the contents seem what a very rich family might have owned. The lack of large silver serving vessels and of some of the most common types of jewelry, suggest that the hoard is only part of the wealth of its owner. The Hoxne treasure contains several rare and important objects, including a gold body-chain and silver-gilt pepper-pots. The hoard was excavated by archaeologists with the items largely undisturbed and intact.

REVIEW:  A major late Roman hoard of coins, gold jewelry and silver table utensils was found in November 1992 at Hoxne, Suffolk. The finder, Eric Lawes, located the treasure on 16 November 1992, and together with the tenant farmer of the land, Peter Whatling, immediately reported the discovery to Suffolk County Council, the landowners. This prompt action enabled a team from the Suffolk Archaeological Unit, under the direction of Judith Plouviez, to carry out a controlled emergency excavation of the remainder of the deposit on 17 November. This was completed on the same day, and the finds were collected and taken to the British Museum on the following day. The deposit was lifted in small context blocks, and the recording and detailed excavation was therefore completed under laboratory conditions in the Museum. The hoard was declared Treasure Trove at a Coroner's Inquest in Lowestoft on 3 September 1993. [Cambridge University].

   

  I always ship books Media Mail in a padded mailer.  This book is shipped FOR FREE via USPS INSURED media mail (“book rate”).  All domestic shipments and most international shipments will include free USPS Delivery Confirmation (you might be able to update the status of your shipment on-line at the USPS Web Site) and free insurance coverage.  A small percentage of international shipments may require an additional fee for tracking and/or delivery confirmation.  If you are concerned about a little wear and tear to the book in transit, I would suggest a boxed shipment - it is an extra $1.00.  Whether via padded mailer or box, we will give discounts for multiple purchases. International orders are welcome, but shipping costs are substantially higher. 

    Most international orders cost an additional $12.99 to $33.99 for an insured shipment in a heavily padded mailer, and typically includes some form of rudimentary tracking and/or delivery confirmation (though for some countries, this is only available at additional cost). There is also a discount program which can cut postage costs by 50% to 75% if you’re buying about half-a-dozen books or more (5 kilos+).  Rates and available services vary a bit from country to country.  You can email or message me for a shipping cost quote, but I assure you they are as reasonable as USPS rates allow, and if it turns out the rate is too high for your pocketbook, we will cancel the sale at your request.  ADDITIONAL PURCHASES do receive a VERY LARGE discount, typically about $5 per book (for each additional book after the first) so as to reward you for the economies of combined shipping/insurance costs.  Your purchase will ordinarily be shipped within 48 hours of payment.  We package as well as anyone in the business, with lots of protective padding and containers.

    All of our shipments are sent via insured mail so as to comply with PayPal requirements.  We do NOT recommend uninsured shipments, and expressly disclaim any responsibility for the loss of an uninsured shipment.  Unfortunately the contents of parcels are easily “lost” or misdelivered by postal employees – even in the USA.  That’s why all of our domestic shipments (and most international) shipments include a USPS delivery confirmation tag; or are trackable or traceable, and all shipments (international and domestic) are insured.  We do offer U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail, Registered Mail, and Express Mail for both international and domestic shipments, as well United Parcel Service (UPS) and Federal Express (Fed-Ex).  Please ask for a rate quotation.  We will accept whatever payment method you are most comfortable with.  If upon receipt of the item you are disappointed for any reason whatever, I offer a no questions asked return policy.  Send it back, I will give you a complete refund of the purchase price (less our original shipping costs).

    Most of the items I offer come from the collection of a family friend who was active in the field of Archaeology for over forty years.  However many of the items also come from purchases I make in Eastern Europe, India, and from the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean/Near East) from various institutions and dealers.  Though I have always had an interest in archaeology, my own academic background was in sociology and cultural anthropology.  After my retirement however, I found myself drawn to archaeology as well.  Aside from my own personal collection, I have made extensive and frequent additions of my own via purchases on Ebay (of course), as well as many purchases from both dealers and institutions throughout the world - but especially in the Near East and in Eastern Europe.  I spend over half of my year out of the United States, and have spent much of my life either in India or Eastern Europe.  In fact much of what we generate on Yahoo, Amazon and Ebay goes to support The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, as well as some other worthy institutions in Europe connected with Anthropology and Archaeology.

    I acquire some small but interesting collections overseas from time-to-time, and have as well some duplicate items within my own collection which I occasionally decide to part with.  Though I have a collection of ancient coins numbering in the tens of thousands, my primary interest is in ancient jewelry.  My wife also is an active participant in the "business" of antique and ancient jewelry, and is from Russia.  I would be happy to provide you with a certificate/guarantee of authenticity for any item you purchase from me.  There is a $2 fee for mailing under separate cover.  Whenever I am overseas I have made arrangements for purchases to be shipped out via domestic mail.  If I am in the field, you may have to wait for a week or two for a COA to arrive via international air mail.  But you can be sure your purchase will arrive properly packaged and promptly - even if I am absent.  And when I am in a remote field location with merely a notebook computer, at times I am not able to access my email for a day or two, so be patient, I will always respond to every email.  Please see our "ADDITIONAL TERMS OF SALE."

 

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