170 SIE JOHN EVANS — ON ROMAN COINS 



There must have been in the deposit rather more than 450 coins 

 in all, the greater number of which came into the possession of 

 Mr. Pearson, who kindly placed them in my hands for exami- 

 nation. I am indebted to Mr. R. T. Andrews, of Hertford, 

 not only for calling my attention to the coins, but also for 

 making a preliminary arrangement of them. In describing them 

 I have referred for details to Cohen's '■ Medailles ImiHriales.'' 



Full particulars of the various types of these coins are given in 

 the 'Numismatic Chronicle' (3rd series, vol. xvi, pp. 192-201), 

 and it would be needless to reproduce them here. As might be 

 expected in the case of so extensive a deposit, there are several 

 scarce varieties present, some of them being of Emperors whose 

 coins are but seldom found in Britain, and others presenting rare 

 reverses of those whose coins are as a rule common. 



It will be well to say a few words with regard to some of these 

 scarcer pieces. The coins of Pertinax, in any metal, are of 

 extremely rare occurrence in Britain, and none were present in 

 the Lime Street hoard found in 1881,* the coins in which cover 

 nearly the same period as those in the hoard now under con- 

 sideration. Although the reign of Pertinax lasted rather less 

 than the first three months of a.d. 193, a considerable variety 

 of his coins was struck, and Cohen enumerates 59 types in gold, 

 silver, and copper. The denarius with the type of ^quitas is 

 among the more common of his silver coins (PI. IV, Fig. 1). The 

 same type was used on some of his other coins, both in gold and 

 bronze. It became a favourite device among the succeeding 

 emperors, the moneyers probably regarding it as complimentary 

 to their justice in making the coins of full weight. 



Among the coins of Severus some few call for remark. One 

 with p . M . TK . p . VI . cos . II . p . p ., and Fortune standing to the 

 left, holding a rudder placed on a globe, and a comucopise on the 

 reverse, does not occur in Cohen with imp . x on the obverse. More 

 interesting is a coin with the Emperor on horseback on the reverse, 

 and the legend s . p . Q . r . optimo principi (PI. IV, Fig. 2). This 

 type occurs also in gold and bronze, in the latter case with the 

 addition of s . c . to the legend, showing that it was struck in the 

 Senatorial mint. Those in gold and silver were apparently struck 

 in the Imperial mint, and as they all belong to the early part 

 of the reign of Severus, they seem to indicate some decree of 

 the Senate expressing its satisfaction at his having overcome his 

 rivals Pescennius Mger and Clodius Albinus. 



A coin with victor . ivst . avg . (Cohen, 738) is also worthy of 

 notice. This, too, belongs to the year a.d, 193, or the beginning 

 of the reign of Severas. The legend expanded would appear to be 

 viCTORiAE ivsTi AVGVSTi. The title of Justus was assumed by 

 Pescennius Niger, from whom Severus must have borrowed it. 

 There are indeed silver coins of Pescennius with precisely the 

 same type and legend, 



* ' Xum. Clirou.,' 3rJ series, vol. ii, p. 57; vol. iii, p. 278. 



