An Iron Age cast copper alloy comb. The comb is a sub-rectangle in plan. One long edge is convexly curved, forming the upper edge of the comb. The upper surface of both sides of the comb is decorated.
Photo Credit Portable Antiquities Scheme
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Number 42: A figurine of Cautopates
This very evocative figurine found in Newton Kyme, North Yorkshire, is a representation of an attendant of the Roman deity Mithras. The Mithraic cult was popular amongst soldiers in the later Roman Empire.
Photo Credit Portable Antiquities Scheme
Number 41: Cloth seal assemblage
The collection of lead cloth seals found in the River Wear in Durham add greatly to the corpus of information about these items. The condition of these items deteriorates rapidly and precise identification and dating can be difficult.
Photo Credit Portable Antiquities Scheme
Number 40: Putney 'Brothel Token' or Spintria
A copper-alloy disc featuring the number XIIII on the reverse and an image of a couple in a sexual embrace on the obverse, found on the banks of the River Thames in Putney. It remains undecided as to whether this is an actual token, used to pay for the services of a Roman prostitute, or just a raunchy gaming counter. Either way, it is an incredibly rare find from Britain's Roman past. The finder, Regis Curson, has generously donated the item to the Museum of London.
Photo Credit Portable Antiquities Scheme
Number 39: Beddingham Nose
This piece of sculpted copper-alloy found in Beddingham, East Sussex, is most likely a prosthesis dating from the 16th or 17th Centuries. If so, it would have been worn to hide its owner's facial disfigurement, most likely resulting from a disease such as syphilis, though possibly suffered in an accident.
Photo Credit Portable Antiquities Scheme
Number 38: A hoard of Spanish Dubloons
The gold coins recorded here, found in 2010 and 2011 in South East Lincoln, are actually addenda to an original hoard of coins found in the same place in 1928. Some of the original coins were acquired by the British Museum after being declared Treasure Trove. They are all 8-escudos coins (technically it was the 2-escudos coin that was termed a 'doubloon') and were the largest gold coins of the Spanish colonies at the time. It is intriguing to wonder how they ended up being buried near the city of Lincoln in the early 1800s.
Photo Credit Portable Antiquities Scheme
Number 37: Anarevitos gold stater
A single gold stater (coin) dating to the late Iron Age. It was found near Dover in Kent in 2010 and features the inscription 'ANAREVITO' - the name of a previously unknown ruler. Interestingly, on the obverse there is an inscription of a second ruler who is already familiar to us from other coins - Eppilus.
Photo Credit Portable Antiquities Scheme
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