VELP 1715

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Location

City

Velp

County

Rheden

Region

Gelderland

Country

Netherlands

Ancient place

Velp

Lat/Long/Alt

51.996 / 5.976 / 19.91 view

Location details

Centred on village/city

Find spot comment

On land that belongs to a tobacco merchant.

Information

10039

Permalink

https://chre.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/hoard/10039

Hoard name

VELP 1715

Data type

Hoard

Date of discovery (from)

1715

Total number of coins

Summary

A hoard of possibly 35+ late Roman gold coins, including at least 5 medallions (Honorius, Galla Placidia), as well as solidi of 'Constantine', 'Valentinian', Valens, Gratian, Arcadius, Honorius, Johannes and 'other emperor and empresses at that time'. The medallions were encased in frames and attached to a gold necklace. Bracelets are also reported of.

Details
Coins Summary
Coins
Rating
Archaeological context
Containers
Objects
References
Reports
Images
Credit

Discovery method

Agricultural or drainage work
Land Use

Grassland, Heathland
Disposition

Numismatic National Collection (2 coins); Cabinet des Médailles, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris (2 coins)
Comment

'Because the soil is barren, he [the owner] decides to turn it over in order to improve its fertility. For this purpose he hires ten workers: some cavalrymen, soldiers and a few small farmers. While on this job, one of the cavalrymen hits something solid and thinking it is just a stone, he energetically digs his shovel in the ground again and upon withdrawing it, suddenly sees a gold solidus. Excited he gropes into the earth and discovers a large number of them, whereupon the other workers come rushing up. They decide to come back after sunset and agree to share amongst each other what they will find. That evening they remove more of the soil and find, lying in a small circle, gold necklaces and bracelets. The inner part of this circle is covered with large gold medallions. On top of this are many solidi, standing, closely packed, on their edges. These solidi are of the sons of Constantine the Great, Valens, Valentinian, Gratian, Honorius, Galla Placidia, Johannes and many more emperors and empresses. According to Baron van Spaen, the bracelets and the necklace(s) were melted down soon after their discovery. But he was partly wrong. The bracelets are never heard of again, and probably disappeared into the melting pot soon after their discovery. However, in 1799, one necklace was still in possession of the Brantsen family in Arnhem, together with one of the Honorius medallions. The archaeologist and keeper of the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, LJ.F. Janssen (1806-1869). got in touch with J.P.J.T. Brantsen, mayor (1848-1880) of Rheden, a village not far from Arnhem and Yelp. Brantsen told him that he could vaguely remember the necklace being amongst the family possessions. He also mentioned that it was melted down during the French occupation of the Netherlands (1795-181%-" The melting pot was also the place where most of the solidi ended up, as the coins were sold by the I farmers to gold smiths. Cuper only saw about thirty of the solidi himself and bought two, one of Honorius and one of Valentinian. Four other solidi are depicted on a drawing that is part of the socalled Cannegieter papers 111G 21. accompanied by a note that says: Four small medals belong to Hakfort / large one belongs to the Baron van Spaen.The 'large one', is the Galla Placidia medallion.' (Beliën 2008, 235)
Closing reign (earliest)

Valentinian III
Terminal year (earliest)

426
Closing reign (latest)

Valentinian III
Terminal year (latest)

430
Opening year (earliest)

306
Opening year (latest)

307
Coin-level data

Entered

Fetching coin data

Numismatic rating

Poor
Context rating

Poor
Findspot rating

Poor

Site class

Rural

Context

Vicus

Objects belonging to this hoard

Necklace

Bracelets

Permalink in other online databases

Reference

NUMIS

Ref

1049747

References

Reference

Blanchet, A. - 1900 - Les trésors de monnaies romaines et les invasions germaniques de la Gaule

Ref

no. 633

Reference

Van Kerkwijk, A.- O. - 1910 - Les médaillons romains en or de la trouvaille de Velp en 1715

Comment

with description, p. 35, of 5 solidi

Reference

Bolin, S. - 1926 - Fynden av romerska mynt i det fria Germanien. Studier i romersk och äldre germansk historia

Ref

p. 15, no. 20

Reference

Gelder, H. Enno van and Boersma, Johannes S. - 1967 - Munten in muntvondsten

Ref

182

Reference

Brenot, C. and Metzger, C. - 1992 - Trouvailles de bijoux monétaires dans l'Occident romain

Ref

pp. 341-342

Reference

Kent, J. - 1994 - The Roman Imperial Coinage : 10. The divided Empire and the fall of the western parts AD 395-491

Ref

p. cxv

Reference

Beliën, P. - 2008 - The symbols of power. The Velp 1715 hoard

Ref

233-248

National Numismatic Collection, De Nederlandsche Bank (NUMIS) Imported from CSV by Dr Simon Glenn. Updated by C. Gazdac (August 2018, 2023). Information amended by M. Spoerri, based on information given by Dr Anton Cruysheer (March 2022).

Coin Hoards
of the Roman Empire

VELP 1715

Data not added to the map

Objects belonging to this hoard

Necklace

Bracelets

Permalink in other online databases

References

Coin Hoardsof the Roman Empire

VELP 1715

Data not added to the map

Objects belonging to this hoard

Necklace

Bracelets

Permalink in other online databases

References

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Coin Hoards
of the Roman Empire