A thin couple of days in terms of news. This from ANSA, the news that the world's largest hoard of coins, all 108,000 coins found in Libya in 1981, has been restored. The coins date to the end of the third/beginning of the fourth century:
The world's largest haul of
ancient coins has been restored and will be put on view to
the public shortly.
The 108,000 Roman coins were found by chance in Libya in 1981 but were in such poor condition that it has been impossible to adequately restore them until recently.
Now Italy's Institute for Technologies Applied to Cultural Heritage (ITABC) has acquired the means to do it, using instruments such as the DPAA (Deep Proton Activation Analysis), a non-invasive analysing tool.
Datable to 294-333 AD, the coins have a rare mix of copper, tin and lead alloys with a touch of silver and a silver coating.
The 108,000 Roman coins were found by chance in Libya in 1981 but were in such poor condition that it has been impossible to adequately restore them until recently.
Now Italy's Institute for Technologies Applied to Cultural Heritage (ITABC) has acquired the means to do it, using instruments such as the DPAA (Deep Proton Activation Analysis), a non-invasive analysing tool.
Datable to 294-333 AD, the coins have a rare mix of copper, tin and lead alloys with a touch of silver and a silver coating.
It would be interesting to know which mints produced this junk :-) Since the hoard considerably overlaps Diocletian's reign, it seems that his coinage reform (an argenteus of supposedly 95% silver) didn't have any lasting effect. The only piece I know that has been analysed (310 AD) shows 23% silver in the core and a bit more on the surface. This Libyan stuff speaks volumes for economic misery.
Posted by: judith weingarten | July 15, 2009 at 10:07 AM
It does indeed. I want to see more details on the coins themselves.
Posted by: adrianmurdoch | July 16, 2009 at 02:55 AM