Gave myself a week to date a Roman coin hoard. Took 3 months instead.

I found a small hoard of about 40 Roman bronze coins from the 3rd century AD, just outside of Colchester. I figured I'd clean them up, ID them, and have a nice little write-up done in a week. But man, the corrosion was way worse than I thought. Some of them were stuck together in a clump and I had to carefully separate them using a toothpick and distilled water over a month. Then the patina on half of them was so thick I couldn't read the legends at all. I ended up having to email a specialist at the British Museum to help ID a few that just looked like green discs. Three months later, I finally got them all catalogued and photographed. Has anyone else here dealt with a group find that took way longer than you planned? How do you keep from getting frustrated with the slow work?

2 comments

2 Comments

nora101mo ago

Totally feel you on this... I had a similar thing with a group of medieval coins I found near an old market site. Thought it'd be a weekend project, ended up spending like four months on it because the dirt was basically glued on.

the_henry1mo ago

Took 3 months instead" - yeah that sounds about right. I did a small hoard of 20 Roman coins from a field in Suffolk last year. Figured two weeks max. Took me five. The worst part was the ones that looked clean but had hidden corrosion crust that needed acetone soaks for weeks. You just have to accept it's going to take as long as it takes. No point rushing it and damaging the coins.