The Roman Imperial Hoard from Gruia in Roman Dacia - Romania

The Roman imperial hoard from Gruia, Romania (in the former Roman province of Dacia) is among the largest ever discovered in that part of the Roman Empire. 1,509 silver coins ranking from Vespasian to Gordian III were accidentally discovered whilst digging in a private garden. This book presents a fully described catalogue of each of these coins, photographs included. A comparative analysis with other similar hoards throughout the Roman Empire reveals both general and specific hoarding patterns during the period. The authors attempt to discover whether such an amount of silver coins could represent the wealth of an individual by looking at prices and salaries around the time the hoard was buried. Some possible reasons for why the hoard was concealed—and never recovered—are presented through an analysis of hoard distribution in the provinces of the Middle and Lower Danube, and the history of the area. An aspect of particular interest emphasized in the book is the presentation of so-called ‘weird’ coins, meaning those pieces that have been minted with various errors, either deliberately or by mistake: engraving errors, coin-die malfunction, plated coins etc.