Three Roman silver ingots, each stamped with a coin issued by Constantine the Great, have been recovered by authorities in Zakarpattia Oblast (Transcarpathia), following an attempt to sell one of them via the internet, according to a press release issued by the National Museum of the History of Ukraine on 13 August 2024. The seller, who has been arrested and is likely to face trial, claimed that the ingots were found in a garden in the Khust area by his grandmother, and that he found them in her basement after she died.
The ingots each been bear a coin stamp which would have otherwise have been used to stamp golden coins at Augusta Treverorum (the modern city of Trier in Germany) between 310 and 313 AD, following Constantine's victory over the Franks. Ingots stamped in this way are known to have been given as gifts be Roman emperors following important events, although no such items associated with Constantine's victory over the Franks have previously been found. Constantine returned to Rome shortly after his victory, to face his rival, Emperor Maximillian, notably converting to Christianity before that battle, and promising to make the whole Roman Empire Christian should he win, which he subsequently did.
The style of the ingots, a double axe-labrys, is consistent with manufacture in the late third or early fourth century AD, and the ingots each weigh 342 g, equivalent to the weight of 100 siliqua, a silver coin introduced by the Emperor Diocletian in 294 AD during his reform of imperial currency; prior to this Roman ingots would typically have weighed 328.9 g, one Roman Libra (Pound). It is likely that the three ingots would have been bound together with a silver ribon when given as a gift.
Quite who the gift was given to is unclear. Ukraine was outside the Roman Empire, and in the early fourth century would have been inhabited by a mixture of Dacians and Germanic tribes. The Romans are known to have made extensive use of mercenaries from outside the Empire during this period, and it is possible that the gift was given to a king or nobleman from the region who had served in the Roman Army, although a gift of this size would have been significant, and it is surprising that the name of a person important enough to receive it would not have been recorded.
While metal ingots from the Roman Empire are not unusual, ingots stamped with coin impressions in this way are very rare, with only eleven examples known to have survived, including the three from Khust, making their discovery highly significant.
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