File:2007 T664 Bronze Coin Hoard Bridgnorth area (a) (FindID 199900).jpg

English: A hoard of 2000+ coins of Decentius and Magnetoius c353 AD Fel Temp Reparato

Description of the coins

This group consists of 2,896 coins and two coin fragments made in the fourth century AD. In fact all but 4 were produced in the AD 340s and 350s. Each coin, generally known today as a nummus,is predominantly copper-alloy with a tiny admixture of silver. The legends on the reverse of the nummi of AD 348-50 invariably read FEL(ix) TEMP(orum) REPARATIO which can be translated as 'happy times are here again' ('FTR' on summary). It was an optimistic hope prompted by the year 348 coinciding with the 1,100^th anniversary of the traditional founding of Rome and the belief that it marked the beginning of a new age for the embattled empire. The plentiful earlier coinage of the century prior to AD 348 is largely absent here and this is generally the case with previously recorded 'Fel Temp' hoards.<a title="" href="#_ftn1">^[1]</a>

Discussion

Three main groups are present. The first was produced during AD 348-50, the joint reign of Constantius II (AD 337-61) and his younger brother Constans (AD 337-50). Both had been brought up as Christians by their father Constantine the Great (AD 306-37) the first emperor to adopt the faith. Constans was the last legitimate emperor to visit Britain. The second consists of issues of the half-British usurper Magnentius who eliminated Constans and briefly made himself emperor of the west until defeated by the surviving brother. Shortly after Magnentius's downfall Constantius again reformed the coinage which had the effect of removing the usurper's coins from circulation. The assemblage just stretches into this third, post-Magnentian period. Although there are many reasons for the abandonment of hoards, it is possible that these coins quickly became useless or, worse still, represented an unwanted association with a discredited regime.

From the same find?

Chronologically the coins belong to one coinage system and form a discrete compositional group of coins that would have been briefly current in Britain around the middle of the fourth century AD.

Copper alloy ring and pottery fragments found with the coins by Dr R. Hobbs

1. Copper-alloy ring: plain ring of circular section, pockmarked surface, dark green patina. Ext. d.: 30.7mm Int. d.: 23.4mm Wt.: 7g. Function is uncertain, possibly a belt fitting. Date: probably ancient, Iron Age to Roman or later. Although this item could be associated with the coin hoard, it could also be a stray find.
2. Large number of pottery sherds of a coarseware jar: 10 rim sherds, 1 base and c. 140 body sherds similar to Servern Valley wares of orangey-pink coarseware from a round bodied jar with an everted rim. A number of pieces have traces of green copper corrosion on their inner surface, the result of contact with the coins. Date: late Roman, probably made in the Severn Valley (kiln site not identified).