That Roman coin I spent 4 months trying to identify was actually a modern replica

I found this bronze coin at a dig site near Chester last summer and was sure it was a rare Roman denarius. Spent about 4 months cross-referencing museum catalogs and even emailed a few experts who kept saying they'd get back to me. Just before Christmas I finally got a curator at the British Museum to look at it properly, and he pointed out the die marks were wrong for any Roman minting process. Has anyone else had a 'thrilling' find turn out to be a dud after a long hunt?

3 comments

3 Comments

phoenix_singh256d ago

Took me about 6 weeks to figure out my 'medieval trade axe' was actually a tractor cultivator blade from the 1950s. The rust pattern and wear marks matched farm equipment guides more than any museum catalog I wasted time on. Funny how a few decades of iron patina can fool you into seeing something a thousand years older.

brooke_taylor446d ago

Totally been there! I spent a whole year convinced I had found a colonial-era horseshoe near an old mill site. Turned out it was a modern farrier's practice shoe from the 90s, the kind they use for trimming demos. The nail holes were too perfectly spaced and the metal composition was way too consistent for hand-forging. The worst part is I even bragged to my uncle about it and he didn't say anything, he just let me keep thinking I was a history detective!

jordan_henderson136d ago

A tractor cultivator blade though? I would've been bragging about that find for years before someone casually dropped the truth on me. Six weeks of thinking you had a medieval relic only to realize it was basically farming equipment from your granddad's era, that's got to sting a bit.