Article
21 October 2024
An extremely rare silver denarius of the Roman Emperor Carausius will be offered for sale at Noonans Mayfair in a sale of Ancient Coins and Antiquities on Tuesday, October 22, 2024. Expected to fetch £6,000-8,000 and was discovered in June of this year by Mike Clark in a field in South Brewham in Somerset.
Mike, who is 73-years old and lives in Wimborne, used to be a commercial fisherman operating out of Poole harbour and has been metal detecting for 52 years. He recalled: “It was on June 9th, that I attended an organised dig with around 20 detectorists on some pasture fields at South Brewham in Somerset. Using my XP Deus 1 metal detector, which I have had for many years, nothing was found in the morning but in the afternoon on another field my first signal was a £1 coin; the next signal revealed at a depth of 6 inches a silver coin. I recognised it immediately as a denarius of the Roman Emperor Carausius. I then contacted the local Finds Liaison Officer so that it could be properly recorded.”
Nigel Mills, Coins and artefacts Specialist at Noonans explains: “The coin, which was never published, features a laureate bust of the usurper Carausius, who commanded the Roman fleet ‘Classis Britannica’, based in the English Channel. In AD 286 the emperor Maximian ordered his execution after Carausius was suspected of concealing treasure captured from pirates. Carausius then declared himself Emperor of Britain and northern Gaul making Britain an independent state. For this he is sometimes regarded as the first ‘brexiteer” The coin features a radiate Lion holding a thunderbolt. The letters RSR appear before the Lion which are the abbreviation for “Rodeunt Saturnia Regna’ from the poet Virgil’s ‘Eclogues’ meaning (the kingdom of Saturn returns). Carausius is hinting at a return to a Golden Age through his leadership. Carausius was murdered seven years later by his finance minister Allectus.”
Mike will share the money with the landowner.
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