Fascinating finds

Colin Smale reveals the story behind three archaeological items found in our county.

This month’s three items are a real ‘macho’ looking silver Roman coin, a very rare religious symbol and some mysterious blobs of metal you might consider very uninteresting – that is until their real identity is realised!

SILVER ROMAN COIN
Found on the Lincolnshire Wolds near Ludford, this is a serrated silver denarius of the Roman Republic, struck by the moneyer L Memmius Galleria circa 106BC in Rome – so this coin is a long way from home! If only it could tell us of its journey from Rome to a field in North Lincolnshire, eh?

On the obverse is a Laureate head of Saturn facing left and the word ‘Roma’. The reverse features a Venus in biga (a two-horse chariot), Cupid flying above with laurel wreath, and ‘L MEMMI GAL’ on two lines below.

It is not fully known why these coins were serrated but the most likely theory is that they were manufactured like a normal coin and then struck, probably with a chisel, to show they were not a fourrée or forgery, but were 100% silver.

Each coin’s serrations are unique to that coin and so the serrations were hand-made; this was extremely labour-intensive.

LIMOGES APPLIQUÉ
This is a copper alloy medieval Limoges enamelled appliqué or cross mount from c.12th-14th century AD. The mount depicts a head and robed body of one of the saints or apostles.

This mount was probably made for a casket or a cross. They were typically produced in the Limoges area in central France during the late 12th and 13th centuries. A technique known as ‘champlevé’ enamelling was used, which involved grinding out a metal base to receive glass powder that was then fired.

Such works were created for significant ecclesiastical and royal patrons. The wealth of enamelling preserved from the Treasury of the abbey of Grandmont, just outside Limoges, is due chiefly to the Plantagenet patronage of Henry II and his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine.

The figure was found in a stubble field in Stainfield.

BRONZE CASTING SPRUES
Here are three innocuous looking bits of bronze found in a field on the Wolds that you may kick to one side, if you had even noticed them at all. The top row is actually shown inverted because the tops of them are part of the statue and once cooled, this pouring sprue is snapped off. The bottom row shows this more clearly – this is the actual top where the molten bronze was poured in and, as you can see, it has hardened when exposed to the air.

Every bronze statue has had a casting sprue and as a result wonderful statues have been made and treasured for centuries, as we can see in our museums.

Now, don’t these insignificant bits of “rubbish” suddenly make that field much more attention-grabbing – and speak of exciting times of the past?

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