Spectacular Coin Hoard Discovered in the Province of Utrecht

The most recent Roman coins were struck in 46 and 47 AD, during the reign of Emperor Claudius. During this time, Roman troops crossed the North Sea to conquer Britain. 44 gold coins come from what is now Britain and bear the name of the Celtic king Cunobelinus. The coins were probably brought to Bunnik by Roman soldiers returning from Britain after the first conquests: the Roman coins as pay, the British Celtic ones as spoils of war. The coins have now been acquired by the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden and can be seen in the permanent exhibition ‘The Netherlands in Roman times’.

Historical Context and Interpretations

The coin find illustrates the importance of the Lower Germanic Limes to the Roman invasions of Britain. Not only was the first crossing prepared from this border area in 43 AD, but Roman troops also appear to have used the Limes to return to mainland Europe, bringing with them various items such as British Celtic coins.

Roman and British Celtic Coins

The hoard is the largest Roman hoard ever found in the province of Utrecht. It is also the first find on the European mainland with a mixed Roman and British-Celtic composition.

The coins were discovered in the area of the Roman frontier, but outside the major known Roman sites such as Fort Traiectum (Utrecht) and Ulpia Noviomagus (Nijmegen). They were probably buried in 47 AD or shortly afterwards. It is not known why this happened. It is possible that they were buried with the intention of raising them later, or that it was a sacrifice, for example in thanks for a safe return from war.

The gold coins from Britain are staters. They are not made of pure gold, but of an alloy of gold, silver and copper. They were struck between about AD 5 and 43, during and shortly after the reign of the Celtic king Cunobelinus, and until the first Roman conquests. The name Cunobelinus is written in Latin letters on the coins: CVNO[BELINVS].

The Roman coins show portraits of Roman rulers and emperors. The earliest coins, made of silver and gold, are those of Emperor Claudius. They were struck in 46-47 AD, towards the end of the first Roman conquests in Britain.

A total of 72 Roman aurei were found, dating from 19 BC to 47 AD. Two of them were struck with the same die and show no signs of wear. The owner appears to have received them freshly minted.

Most of the Roman coins are made of silver; there are 288 in all. These denarii were struck between 200 BC and 47 AD. There are some particularly interesting examples, such as coins of Julius Caesar and a coin of Juba, king of Numidia (North Africa, now Algeria).

From Finding the Hoard to Exhibiting the Coins

The coins were discovered by Gert-Jan Messelaar and Reinier Koelink using metal detectors. After the find was officially reported to the Archaeological Reporting Centre of Landschap Erfgoed Utrecht (Utrecht Landscape and Heritage Foundation), the coins were examined by archaeologist Anton Cruysheer. They were then entered into the Portable Antiquities of the Netherlands (PAN) finds database and cleaned by the restoration workshop Restaura in Heerlen.

To find out more about the area around the site and the reasons for burying the coins, the National Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE) carried out an excavation in collaboration with the two finders. This brought to light a further 23 coins, which were acquired by the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, together with the 381 coins found by the metal detectorists.  The pieces can now be seen in the permanent exhibition “The Netherlands in Roman times”. The acquisition was made possible in part by the VriendenLoterij.

Here you can watch a short clip about the hoard:

And here you can learn more about how the coins were cleaned by the Restaura restoration workshop.