Ancient Roman coins, worth $318,000 USD, found in Luxembourg: officials

Luxembourg officials recently announced that an “extremely rare” cache of gold coins from the fourth century A.D. has recently been unearthed, ending an excavation project that was four years in the making.

In a statement issued by the National Institute for Archaeological Research (INRA) in Luxembourg, officials said 141 coins were found in total. The excavations were “carried out with the utmost care and extended over several years,” the statement said, due to land mines from World War II in the area.

“These operations also had to take into account the specific dangers of the region, due to the presence of numerous munitions and explosive devices dating from the Second World War,” the INRA’s statement said. “For this reason, archaeologists have collaborated with the Luxembourg Army’s Mine Clearance Service (SEDAL).”

The coins include depictions of nine Roman emperors who ruled between 364 and 408 A.D. Among the hoard is Eugenius, an infamous ruler considered illegitimate by the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire.

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Ancient Roman coins, including one of the illegitimate ruler Eugenius, inset, were recently found in Luxembourg. (iStock | INRA)

Eugenius controlled the Western Roman Empire from 392 to 394, but he was never considered a legitimate ruler by the Byzantines. He was caught and executed at the Battle of the Frigidus in 394.

The recovered coins were “solidi,” meaning that they were made of pure gold, and INRA noted that the government of Luxembourg had given 308,600 euros to the “beneficiaries” of the coin hoard, equal to nearly $318,000.

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“This value was established after independent numismatic expertise took into consideration the excellent state of conservation of the solidi and the presence of a few rare copies, in particular three issues of the usurping Emperor Eugenius who ruled only two years (392-394),” the INRA explained.

Hundreds of coins were found in total, officials said. (C. Nosbusch/INRA)

Archaeologists remain stumped as to why such a valuable hoard was buried to begin with, and experts are currently investigating the reason the cache was left behind.

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“This is a major archaeological discovery, because it is extremely rare to be able to study in its entirety an ancient monetary deposit in its archaeological context,” the statement said. “Its examination will allow [us to understand] the motivations that led to its burial.”

The most recent find is one of many discoveries of ancient treasure in Europe over the past few months. Last week, English officials announced that they discovered a 1,000-year-old hoard of coins in Suffolk, England, at the site of a proposed nuclear plant.