Coin, nummus AE4

A copper alloy nummus of an unidentified Roman emperor. Because the back is so worn, we cannot be sure if the design showed Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory, or a soldier spearing a rider who has fallen from his horse. Both were common types. This coin was minted c. 348-395 CE.

Front (obverse): Bust, facing right. Inscription: ...VS P... .
Back (reverse): Either Victory, advancing left, holding a wreath and palm, or a soldier, standing left, spearing a fallen horseman. Possible inscriptions: [VICTORIA AVGGG]. 'Victory of the Three Emperors' or [FEL TEMP REPARATIO], 'Restoration of Happy Times'.

This coin is one of over 300 Roman coins that were found during building work on a site in Bermondsey in 1946, hidden away in a small ceramic bottle. The coins were presumably the savings of somebody who buried them for safe keeping but who, for a reason we shall never know, did not return to recover them.

The coins were not of high value at the time: the equivalent of modern pennies put in a money box. Nevertheless they are interesting because many of them can be dated to the 380s and 390s CE. This is at the very end of the period during which Britain was part of the Roman empire. Coin hoards of this date are not common. Perhaps the bottle was left behind simply because, once Roman government had come to an end, coins no longer had much value and were less often used in everyday transactions.

The hoard is also important because we have very few Roman finds of any type from this part of Bermondsey. In Roman times the site was probably a small island of higher ground among mudflats and river channels, but we have no specific details about the type of habitation there.