96 THE KINMERIDQE COAL MONEY. 



" The subjoined sketch will give a notion of the form and pro- 

 portions of one of the vessels. It measures eight and a half 

 inches in diameter at the top, seven and three quarter inches nt 

 the bottom, and three inches in depth. The sides are half an 

 inch in thickness. 



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" The discovery occurred in cutting drains in a field, the 

 property of Mr. Green, at Chesterford, by whom they have been 

 presented to Mr, Neville. They lay in black soil, two feet be- 

 neath the surface, with two broken vases of dark Eoman pottery. 

 One of them has been restored, and the form, as well as the 

 ware, confirm the impression that the whole of these relics are 

 undoubtedly Roman. The vessels of Kimmeridge Coal were so 

 perfect, and the condition of the material so compact, that they 

 were for some time concluded to be of wood. By exposure to 

 the air the coal has cracked and exfoliated, precisely as the 

 'Coal Money' usually does, — no doubt can exist of the identity 

 of the material. The vessels have been carefully compared, by 

 many persons who have seen them, with the * Coal Money ' for 

 which we are indebted to Mr. Austen. The material is precisely 

 the same. The drains were cut about twenty feet apart; and 

 in the drain parallel to that in which these remarkable vessels 

 were found, and at that short distance from it, a large urn of 

 black ware was found, containing burned bones. 



