Numismatic volunteers Kerrie Hoffman and Alec Boyd fill us in on some of the most exciting coins and objects they’ve photographed and studied.

Of the wide array of beautiful and ornate coins we photographed over the course of this project a few stood out to us:

Three different gods are represented on this coin.  On the obverse (front) is Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and transitions.  He is almost always depicted as having two faces pointed in opposite directions, looking both forward and backward in time.  On the reverse (back) of the coin you see Jupiter, the leader of the Roman pantheon of Gods, atop a horse drawn chariot driven by the goddess victory.  Jupiter is well armed with a sceptre in one hand and a mighty thunderbolt in the other.  The coin is composed of silver and was struck in Rome between 225 and 212 BC.

On the obverse of this coin is the bust of Constantine I, a pivotal emperor of Rome.  The reverse has a depiction of part of the foundation myth of Rome itself.  One can see the image of a she-wolf suckling two twin human babies.  These are Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome.  The twin’s grandfather Numitor, was to be the king of Alba Longa upon the death of his father.  Instead Numitor’s brother Amulius seized power, killed his male heirs and made his daughter, Rhea Silvia, a vestal virgin.  She was then impregnated by the god Mars and gave birth to twin boys.  The boys were left to die in the wild by Amulius but were saved by a series of miracles.   These miracles included a mother wolf giving them milk while a woodpecker fed them.  When the boys reached manhood they slayed their uncle and Romulus went on to found the city of Rome.  The coin itself is a copper alloy nummus and was struck in Trier between 332 and 333 AD.

This coin shows the helmeted head of Roma on the obverse, a female deity in ancient Roman religion who personified the city of Rome and the Roman state. On the reverse Jupiter can be seen holding a sceptre and the chariot reins in his left hand, and hurling a thunderbolt with his right. The unusual aspect which caught my attention is the pierced round hole. Coins were often altered in some way once out of circulation, converted into a form of jewellery or dress accessory. This coin was most likely worn as a pendant; perhaps this was due to Roma personifying Rome and its culture. Alterations of coins are of interest to me as they provide an insight into the life of the coin beyond that of money, piercing is just one aspect of this coins object biography. The coin itself is made of silver and was struck around 144BC.

Two heads adorn the obverse of this coin; Augustus and his general Agrippa. The reverse is an interesting image showing a chained crocodile in front of a palm tree, and COL NEM stands for Colonia Nemausus (now Nimes in France) where the coin was produced. The chained crocodile symbolises the conquering of Egypt by Rome following the battle of Alexandria; the coin was commissioned to commemorate this defeat.  The battle was fought on 31^st July 30BC during the last civil war of the Roman Republic.  Augustus (also known as Octavian) defeated Marc Antony (who had allied with Cleopatra) and subsequently became the founder of the Roman Empire and the first Roman Emperor. This is a copper alloy coin and was struck between 10 and 14 AD.

We photographed coins from several hoards, however we did not see the vessel in which all of these were buried. Whilst photographing the Vale of York Hoard we were also challenged to photograph this striking bowl and archaeological artefacts found alongside the coins within it. This is a gilded silver cup inlayed with niello (black) on the surface. There are six roundels depicting a hunting scene, along with a vine decoration adorning the lip. The vessel housed 617 coins and several metal artefacts.

Knowing our work on this project will help to contribute to the study of the history of Yorkshire has given us pride and satisfaction. It has been an amazing experience to explore so many artefacts at the Yorkshire Museum and we were so pleased we could share this on the blog. We hope it provides you with an insight into curatorial practice behind the scenes. Thank you to Andy Woods for providing the opportunity to be involved with the project, and thank you for reading this blog.