A RARE collection of Roman coins has ‘come home’ and gone on display in Warwick.
The 440 coin hoard was found in Edge Hill in Stratford in 2015 during excavations of a Roman settlement. It contains coins that date back as far as 147BC.
After its discovery the silver dinari coins were taken to the British Museum in London.
But Warwickshire Museum raised the £62,000 needed to buy the coins, thanks to public donations and grants.
Now the historic haul – which was buried in a ceramic pot under the floor of a building more than 1,900 years ago – is on show at Market Hall Museum in Warwick.
Warwickshire County Council spokeswoman for heritage, coun Heather Timms said: “This is an amazingly important find for Warwickshire and our Roman past. Now the hoard has come home, these coins will remain here where Warwickshire’s residents can enjoy them for generations to come.
“The international significance of some of the coins in this hoard will increase visitors not only to Warwick, but the wider county, which can only contribute to our key objective of making the Warwickshire economy vibrant.
“We are really excited to have the hoard where it belongs at Market Hall Museum.”
The hoard contains coins dating to AD68, a turbulent time in Roman history known as the ‘Year of the Four Emperors’ which saw a civil war and each emperor create their own coins to fund their armies.
The coins are very rare and few survived from the turbulent time. The hoard found at Edge Hill contains the largest collection of coins ever found from the era.
