Amateur archaeologist finds Germany’s biggest hoard of ancient Roman silver coins
The 934 silver denarii weigh 3.1 kilograms and may have been buried to keep the fortune safe, archaeologists said.
- On Tuesday, the LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn displayed the largest Roman coin hoard from Emperor Hadrian's era found in Germany, comprising 934 silver denarii weighing 3.1 kilograms.
- Oliver Riedl discovered the trove near Wesseling, south of Cologne, a year ago when his metal detector signaled repeatedly, prompting him to alert authorities.
- Research associate Rahel Otte noted a Roman legionary earned 300 denarii annually, with half withheld for equipment; a soldier would require six years of saved income to amass this hoard.
- State archaeologist Erich Classen said the coins were likely buried for safekeeping because banks did not exist, and the owner may have died without passing on knowledge of the treasure.
- General Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa established the military outpost that became Colonia Agrippina, known today as Cologne, to secure the Rhine River border during the region's Roman occupation from 39 BC to AD 459.
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The coins, weighing a total of 3.1 kilograms, are now on display at the LVR-LandesMuseum in Bonn.
Oliver Riedl had already pulled several Roman coins out of a field in western Germany when his metal detector kept ringing: underground there were hundreds of others, until completing a treasure of 934 silver denarii of the time...
An amateur located in Wesseling, south of Cologne, 934 Roman silver denarii: the greatest treasure of the Adriano era found in Germany. The entry An amateur finds a 2,000-year-old Roman treasure that archaeologists call ‘small miracle’ appears first on Merca2.
Amateur archaeologist finds 934 Roman silver denarii in German field
The hoard, buried south of Cologne in the second century AD, is the biggest coin treasure ever found in Germany from the time of Hadrian An amateur archaeologist who discovered several Roman silver coins in a field in western Germany realised he had stumbled upon something much bigger when his metal detector kept beeping. Oliver…
Amateur archaeologist Oliver Riddle was walking in a field near Wesseling with a metal detector in hand when the detector started beeping continuously.
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