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OK, Now I can make this official! A coin find in the Roman Coliseum!!
oreville
Posts: 12,293 ✭✭✭✭✭
I was at the Roma Coliseum in June 2012 and spent the entire day there.
Near the end of the day, I spotted a somewhat shiny object in one of the tunnels that was being opened up over the last few years.
I immediately picked it up and brought it to the attention of a security person who brought me to the administrative office, not sure what to do.
It looked like a Emperor Domitian Denarius and I was right! I thought that perhaps I made a major discovery but actually the Coliseum curator was actually more excited because the coin had been stolen from them six months prior and I recovered it.
It took them over two years to confirm this with the Italian authorities and finally I received a thank you phone call.
I now have lifetime free passes to the Coliseum!! But I still have to pay for the plane fare!! LOL.
The coin I found looks very similar to this coin:
Near the end of the day, I spotted a somewhat shiny object in one of the tunnels that was being opened up over the last few years.
I immediately picked it up and brought it to the attention of a security person who brought me to the administrative office, not sure what to do.
It looked like a Emperor Domitian Denarius and I was right! I thought that perhaps I made a major discovery but actually the Coliseum curator was actually more excited because the coin had been stolen from them six months prior and I recovered it.
It took them over two years to confirm this with the Italian authorities and finally I received a thank you phone call.
I now have lifetime free passes to the Coliseum!! But I still have to pay for the plane fare!! LOL.
The coin I found looks very similar to this coin:
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Just wondering, GrandAm
Cool story. You can only imagine how it got there to begin with.
<< <i>So how much was the found coin worth? >>
I do not know.
<< <i>You might want to share this with the darkside forum. >>
Agreed. Thanks for the suggestion. Done.
<< <i>Cool! I didn't find any coins when I went.
Here's one of the internal corridors prior to entering the famous central area.
What's up with all the holes?
WTG Oreville
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<< <i>I commend you for your character; how many would have done the same. >>
Believe me, I thought for about a second of keeping it but too many employees were looking right at me, or I thought so!!
<< <i>Everything about the OP's post is cool!
+1
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<< <i>
What's up with all the holes?
>>
The place was originally lined with polished stone work with marble among them. The holes were for aiding in anchoring the marble slabs.
Buon giorno, Signore oreville.
<< <i>
<< <i>Everything about the OP's post is cool!
+1 >>
+2!
JH
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<< <i>time to drop some wheat cents on the next visit >>
LOL I was thinking the same thing.
... I told my son to quit playing with that raw roman coin.... later that evening he could not find it when I asked him to see it....days latter oreville thinks he finds coin that has been there for 100;s of years when really I picked it up off of Censtells on ebay a few weeks back. lol
Really cool story and the right thing to do.
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For what it's worth, the coin image you posted is a dupondius made of bronze, not a silver denarius. Was the coin you found about the size of a dime and silver or the size of a half dollar? If the former, it's a denarius; if the latter, it could be like the pictured coin and a dupondius or a sestertius. This particular coin commemorates the opening of Domitian's secular games of 88 AD and is a rather historical type.
Its construction began under the emperor Vespasian and took 10 years, finally finishing in 80 AD. It was built on the site of Nero's Golden Palace and was made for the people rather than just for the emperor.
Here's a Roman aureus of Vespasian:
Unfortunately, Vespasian died before it was completed. Titus, his successor, finished the building project and held a celebration which lasted for 100 days. This coin, a sestertius, was handed out by the emperor at the inaugural games and represents the only surviving original contemporary depiction of the Colosseum:
Its original name was the "Amphitheatrum Flavium", the "Flavian Ampitheater", named after Vespasian's family name. It was eventually given its common name from a massive statue of Nero which was moved in front of it by the emperor Hadrian. This type of statue was known as a “colossus”, and people over time said they would meet “near the Colossus”, resulting in the name Colosseum coming into use more officially around 480 AD.
Nero pictured this statue on an aureus of his from 64 AD:
Goodonya for turning in the coin! Of course, we must all assume we are on camera or at least under observation in any public space; If I found any money or anything of value, particularly in SO public a place, I'd assume it was a set-up and of course do the right thing (not that I wouldn't anyway, but the suspicion would tend to reduce the temptation)
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I wonder, if that coin was ever sold, if it would command a premium based on where it was found. Sort of like shipwreck coins.
You keep the coin. The coin sits in your collection for a while, then you decide to get that jet boat you always wanted. So you consign the coin amongst others (jet boats are expensive) to a large auction house. Someone at the museum is searching for several stolen coins for several years, comes across the coin, and you are investigated. Not pretty.
You made the better, honest choice. Well done.
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<< <i>You are a good man for returning this coin. I suspect 99% of visitors would have stuck it in their pocket. >>
Nah, a guided tour with many eyeballs on you.
I suspect 99% would have turned it in.
Nonetheless, I`m glad you chose the right thing to do.
And, poo-poo on the `honesty game` makers, if that was truly the situation.
I hate to disagree with you but when you say 99% would have turned it in, I think you are woefully off base. I believe most would have simply pocketed the coin. You are among the minority who did the right thing and I join with everyone else here in applauding your action. It was the right thing to do and, thankfully, the right man found the coin!
<< <i>
<< <i>I commend you for your character; how many would have done the same. >>
Believe me, I thought for about a second of keeping it but too many employees were looking right at me, or I thought so!! >>
You did the right thing. If your bag was searched when leaving the country I think you would have been in big trouble. I thought even if you purchased a Roman coin "legally" in Italy you wouldn't be able to take it out of the country without getting an export permit. They've got some pretty harsh laws on antiquities there.
Al
<< <i>Oreville:
I hate to disagree with you but when you say 99% would have turned it in, I think you are woefully off base. I believe most would have simply pocketed the coin. You are among the minority who did the right thing and I join with everyone else here in applauding your action. It was the right thing to do and, thankfully, the right man found the coin! >>
I can have a somewhat blurred line of finders keepers but I am with Oreville on this, most people that are at the site visiting would turn it in. To many hidden cameras, noisy people and the sense of right and wrong win out
NGC registry V-Nickel proof #6!!!!
working on proof shield nickels # 8 with a bullet!!!!
RIP "BEAR"
When I was there I toured the Domus Aurea, which was featured in last month's National Geographic magazine.
The part I went in is on the right of the lake area in the image below.
Also, in touring below a newer church (1500's era) to the left of the colosseum (left of the lake in the image) I was told that the foundation I was looking at was the second mint of Rome, from about this same time as this representation.
Here is their illustration of Rome during the time of Nero, 69 A.D. The Colosseum was a man-made lake at the time.