SMYRNA 1954

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Location

City

İzmir

County

Izmir

Region

Aegean

Country

Turkey

Ancient place

Smyrna

Lat/Long/Alt

38.419 / 27.129 / 8.6 view

Location details

Centred on village/city

Find spot comment

Found in field near the site of ancient Smyrna.

Information

3438

Permalink

https://827063.czjdr4fae.asia/hoard/3438

Hoard name

SMYRNA 1954

Alternative names

İzmir; SMYRNA II

Data type

Hoard

Date of discovery (from)

1954

Total number of coins

1244

Summary

1243 antoniniani (radiates) and one denarius from Caracalla to Valerian I.

Details
Coins Summary
Coins
Rating
Archaeological context
Containers
Objects
References
Reports
Images
Credit

Discovery method

Other chance find
Land Use

Cultivated Land
Disposition

unidentified US based private collector.
Comment

Possibly found as a result of road building, then sold to a dealer in Istanbul. Three silver coins of the fourth century, bearing portraits of Constantine I, Licinius and Gratian, had been associated with this hoard, but Eddy dismissed them as intrusions. The same is also true of seven earlier denarii of Vespasian, Hadrian, Faustina, Antoninus Pius, Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla included in the purchased lot. These denarii were cleaner than the antoniniani and their purple-grey patina is different from the green patina found on the rest of the hoard.
Closing reign (earliest)

Valerian I and Gallienus
Terminal year (earliest)

257
Closing reign (latest)

Valerian I and Gallienus
Terminal year (latest)

257
Opening year (earliest)

211
Opening year (latest)

217
Coin-level data

Entered

Fetching coin data

Numismatic rating

Good
Rating comment

Eddy recorded weights for all specimens dating to the reigns of Gordian III and Philip the Arab. For all other reigns, if there are multiple specimens of the same RIC type, only the average weight is provided.
Context rating

Poor
Findspot rating

Poor

Site comment

buried in a field near the site of ancient Smyrna, in the vicinity of modern Izmir' (Eddy 1967, 1 [Q])
Associated features

The road building activities reputedly cut through an ancient cemetery, but Eddy could not establish with any certainty that the hoard was recovered from this context.
Site class

Uncertain
Period

Uncertain
End period

Uncertain

Containers belonging to this hoard

Ceramic vessel

The original container was lost soon after discovery.

References

Reference

Eddy, Samuel K., - 1967 - The minting of Antoniniani A.D. 238-249 and the Smyrna hoard

Reference

Bland, R. and Aydemir, P. - 1991 - The Haydere hoard and other hoards of the mid-third century from Turkey

Ref

Reference

Hobbs, R. - 2006 - Late Roman precious metal deposits, c. AD 200-700 : changes over time and space

Comment

Silver weight: 909.1-3231.6g.

W. E. Metcalf dataset; additional data entered by P. Walton and R. Bennett (Nov. 2016-Feb 2019). Updated by C. Gazdac (Aug. 2022).

Coin Hoards
of the Roman Empire

SMYRNA 1954

Data not added to the map

Containers belonging to this hoard

Ceramic vessel

The original container was lost soon after discovery.

References

Coin Hoardsof the Roman Empire

SMYRNA 1954

Data not added to the map

Containers belonging to this hoard

Ceramic vessel

The original container was lost soon after discovery.

References

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Coin Hoards
of the Roman Empire