AMAZING HOARD OF ANCIENT ROMAN DENARI

10,000+ Silver Coins Buried Since 244 AD.

Out of the war torn provinces of the old Communist Yugoslavia, a major numismatic treasure trove has reached the safety of the United States. When the hoard was actually excavated is not known, since the dispersal of private wealth was blocked by the Tito led Communist government of Yugoslavia for more than 50 years. Now with the break up of Yugoslavia and the subsequent civil war, the time tested value of hard metallic, almost indestructible wealth, in the form of ancient silver coins, has again proven its eternal magic. Maybe you could buy a warehouse of worthless Yugoslavian dinars with a few thousand of these Roman silver coins, but what would you do with all that paper money then? Bury the Yugoslavian paper dinars next to the Roman silver denari and dig them up again in 20, 50, 500, 5000 years. Which would you want?

These ancient Roman silver denari (singular denarius) were struck during the height of the Roman Empire from 69 to 235 AD. The Roman Empire stretched from Scotland to Arabia, from Morocco to Poland, from Germany to Egypt, and the Mediterranean was known as the "Roman Lake". It was an empire like the world had never known and has not known since. Dozens of aspiring generals and tyrants like Justinian, Charlemagne, Napoleon, and Hitler tried and failed to recreate the Roman Empire. All roads lead to Rome. When in Rome do as the Romans do. About every third word in the English language had its start in Roman Latin. Liberty on US coins is usually shown wearing or holding a Liberty cap which the Romans used to designate a free person. The Mercury head dime is named after the Roman messenger god. The fasces on the reverse is a symbol of Roman justice. The Roman Empire was the birth culture of the Christian religion. All one has to do is visit modern Rome now and look at the Colosseum built by Vespasian, the triumphal arch of Titus, Trajan's Column, and the Forum of Trajan. These are 2,000 year old ruins which represent only a small fraction of the awe inspiring grandeur of this amazing civilization.

The average weight is about 3.5 grams of good silver. They were hand struck with the reverse die embedded in an "anvil" of log cross section and the obverse die was held and struck with a hand sledge hammer. These silver jewels were struck in massive quantities to fuel the economic needs of a vast thriving empire, and indeed as this hoard demonstrates, the oldest denari in the hoard passed from hand to hand for over 125 years before being buried. They were struck by hand engraved dies by skilled artists known as celators. The portraits of all the different Roman emperors and their family members are like a portrait gallery of miniatures silver busts, or like a precious metal three dimensional photo album. The reverse dies were also carefully engraved, usually to depict all the gods, goddesses, heroes, and nymphs of Roman mythology. Other reverse commemmorated military victories, religious or political events, or just plain propaganda. It was a silver denarius of Tiberius which Jesus held up and asked whose portrait was on it. When the reply was "Caesar", Jesus responded by saying "Render to Caesar the things (this denarius) that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's." The word Caesar, originally the name of Julius Caesar, had become a title of the Roman emperor by this time. All of the emperors and male family members represented by this hoard of denari were "Caesars".

The silver denarius was also the power base by which Roman emperors maintained the loyalty of their legions. These paid professional legionaires, though proud to be part of the Roman army, were just as happy serving a rival claimant to the Imperial Purple if he happened to have a more generous war chest overflowing with denari. For most of the First Century AD the standard pay for a legionaire was 225 denari a year. In 84 AD the last of the " 12 Caesars" Domitian, son of the powerful Vespasian 69-79 AD, and brother of the very popular Titus, 79- 81 AD, gave the Roman army a substantial pay raise to 300 denari a year. He probably had to do this to insure the troops loyalty, as he was unpopular with Rome's noble families, and his rule was marked by executions, terror and oppression against his real or imagined enemies. In 96 AD a palace plot succeeded and he was assassinated. Even buying the legions loyalty didn't keep him alive, but it did establish a new pay level for the army which lasted 101 more years. In 197 AD Septimus Severus doubled the legion's pay to 600 denari a year. Not surprisingly he was just winding up a four year civil war against three seperate rivals who also claimed the title of Augustus (so named after the second of the Twelve Caesars, Augustus 31-BC to 14 AD, born named Octavian, the nephew of Julius Caesar). Fortunately Septimus Severus was finishing a very successful campaign against the Parthians in which the spoils of war included vast quantities of silver. This pay raise rewarded his faithful and helped insure years of continued loyalty.

Just by handling these treasures of the past one can almost hear the drums giving a cadence to the tromp of the Legion's advance and the trumpets signaling the charge against the enemy lines! But after the battles are over and the paymaster has distributed the denari to the surviving legions what happened then? For a denarius a Roman could buy 12 large loaves of bread, or 24 small loaves. A serving of table wine (probably watered, which was acceptable) cost an as, or 1/16 of a denarius. Vintage wine cost 1/4 a denarius a serving. In the Holy Land an amphora of olive oil from the Galilee cost one denarius. A bunch of grapes or 10 figs cost an as, or 1/16 of a denarius. An ox sold for 100 denari, and a calf 20 denari, and a ram 8 denari, and 5 sparrows cost 1/8 denarius. It could cost a trader 10,000 denari to lease a ship(galley). A scribe, a highly educated man, earned 12 denari a week. He ate and drank for 4 denari a week, and his clothing also cost 4 denari a week(he must have dressed quite well because a commoner could buy sackcloth clothing which would last years for only 4 denari).

6000 coins available now for $30. each, grading VG to VF.

Emperors from Vespasian, 69 AD, to Gordian III, died 244 AD. Empresses from 138 AD to 235 AD.

Depending on availability we offer from 5 to 10 different pairs: emperors and wives. Examples: Vespasian and Domitian; Trajan Hadrian Antoninus and Pius Faustina, Sr.; Marcus Aurelius and Faustina, Jr.; Commodus Septimus Severus and Julia Domna; Caracalla Elagabalus and Julia Paula, also Julia Mamaea; Severus Alexander and Orbiana.

Need to specify cleaned white or toned for delivery time, but coins are in house so only two weeks needed.