Find Spot record 8600/37 - Roman coin from Duke's Drive

Roman coin recovered from the grass verge by Duke’s Drive on the Eaton Hall estate. The coin was a brass sestertius of Antoninus Pius. Coins first become widespread in Britain in the Roman period. They were minted largely to pay state servants, especially the army, and until the fourth century the denominations were often too large for convenient everyday use. Nevertheless, it is clear that they were widely used for trade. By carrying the emperor's head they also served as a propaganda tool. Few coins in Britain post-date AD 400. From the time of Augustus until the late third century Roman coinage consisted basically of the following denominations: 2 asses (copper) = 1 dupondius (brass); 2 dupondiii = 1 sestertius (brass); 4 sestertii = 1 denarius (silver); 25 aureus (gold). Two smaller coins, the quadrans and semis, are rarely encountered in Britain. As a result of gradual inflation, the as and dupondius had became by the early third century and a double denarius (the antoninianus) was introduced. Catastrophic inflation in the later third century led to the collapse of the Augustan system and its replacement under Diocletian and his successors by new denominations: the so-called copper follis; the silver argenteus (later siliqua) and the gold aureus (later solidus).