The Bunnik hoard

44 gold staters were discovered with 360 Roman coins by metal detectorists in a field in Bunnik, near Utrecht Netherlands in 2023.

Included were 72 gold aurei, dated between 18 B.C. and 47 A.D. The Roman gold exhibits little wear, suggesting they were freshly minted.

Claudius. AD 41-54. AV Aureus. Rome mint. Struck AD 46-47. Good VF. Est $7500, sold for $20,000

Most of the hoard are Roman coins dating between 46 and 47 A.D., a period marking the end of the first Roman conquests in Britain. Many bear the image of Emperor Claudius, who was crucial in expanding the empire’s reach into the British Isles. Some of the nearly 300 silver denarii date as far back as 200 B.C.

Saters bearing the inscription of King Cunobelin were very likely the spoils of war of Roman soldiers from the conquest of Britain. Celtic king Cunobelinus reigned between AD 5 and AD 40 in the south-east of Britain. Four of the staters are posthumous issues, probably struck by Cunobelinus’s successors as ruler of the Catuvellauni tribe, the brothers Togodumnus and Caratacus, around AD 43. The hoard would have represented a huge fortune in it's time.

The most recent coins in the hoard were struck in AD 46-47, and bear the portrait of the emperor Claudius. The area where the coins were discovered was a site from which the Romans had prepared for first crossing to Britain. It was also an area to which the conquering troops returned to the mainland. The wide chronological range of the coins suggests they are spoils from the early Roman conquest of Britain under the general Aulus Plautius (AD 43-47). The coins may have been distributed to the army as a donativum, a bonus paid for a successful campaign.

Britain consisted of several separate kingdoms before Claudius ordered Aulus Plautius to invade with a force of four legions reinforced by auxiliary. The Romans landed at Richborough, Kent and were met a large army of Britons under the Catuvellauni kings Caratacus and his brother Togodumnus, on the River Medway.

Spearheaded by Legio II Augusta under Vespasian, some 45,000 Romans invaded, crossed the Medway River and defeated the Britons.

Quintus Labienus

Quintus Labienus was a Roman general in the Late Republic period. Quintus Labienus was an envoy for Brutus to King Orodes II of Parthia. In 42 BC, when Brutus was defeated at the Battle of Philippi, Quintus fled to Parthia. He made an alliance with Parthia and invaded the Roman provinces in the eastern Mediterranean which were under the control of Mark Antony.

Quintus Labienus, rebel Imperator (40-39 BC). AR denarius. NGC AU 5/5 - 3/5

Quintus Labienus was the son of Titus Labienus, one of Julius Caesar's generals, who threw his support to Pompey and the Senate during the Civil War of 49-45 BC. Following the assassination of Caesar in 44 BC, Quintus fell in with the assassins Brutus and Cassius. He would be dead by the end of the year, 40 BC.

Quintus Labienus coinage is a true rarity. Prices range from $7,500 for low grade silver examples to over $82,500 for exceptional coins. The Quintus Labienus aureus is one of the rarest and most expensive ancient Roman coins. Struck to pay troops, only about six are known to exist. The best sold for $1.1m.

Emperor Valerian

Double Aureus (Binio) of Valerian, minted 255-256 in Turkey.

Valerian (Publius Licinius Valerianus) was Roman emperor from 253 to spring 260 AD. Valerian is known as the first Roman emperor to have been taken captive in battle, captured by the Persian emperor Shapur I after the Battle of Edessa. Roman political culture placed supreme value on courage, and emperors followed Augustus’ example by framing their role through displays of virtus. The epithet “Unconquered” (invictus) meant everything to Romans. Ancients expected Valerian to kill himself before being humiliated by capture.

Valerian’s surrender to a foreign enemy in 260 represented a Roman failure of unparalleled magnitude. A Bishapur Bas-Relief shows Roman Emperor Gordian III defeated and trampled under Shapur's horse, while Shapur leads Valerian by the hand for his slavehood. Valerian was probably not skinned alive, nor killed by molten gold. Vivid tales of revenge, flaying, torture and taxidermy came from hostile propaganda. One theory suggests Valerian was kept alive. He and his captured Roman soldiers were put to work on Persian construction projects according to texts.

Septimius Severus

A circa A.D. 202 to 210 gold aureus issued by Septimius Severus shows sons Caracalla and Geta.

The boys were then in their mid to late teens and hated each other. All three appear on horses on the reverse of the aureus, raising their right hands as if receiving an ovation. Severus took his wife and two sons to wage war against the Caledonians of northern Britain. Severus sent his sons to lead the troops. While in Britain Severus fell ill and died in A.D. 211, leaving behind two sons who were intent on eliminating one another.

In 193, Septimius Severus was the victor in a civil war that saw five rival emperors try to take power. Severus often depicted his wife, Julia Domna, and his squabbling sons on his coinage. On the reverse of a rare gold aureus issued about the year 200, the two boys face one another, with the inscription “Eternity of the Empire" In December 195, after his father defeated Pescennius Niger, Caracalla, aged nine, was given the rank of Caesar, designating him imperial successor. Coinage in gold, silver, and bronze were issued depicting Caracalla as Caesar. Caracalla caesar, Sestertius circa 196-197.

Valued at one-quarter of a denarius, the sestertius was a substantial brass coin of about 27 grams and was a mainstay of the Roman monetary system. Because small change was in chronic short supply, coins often remained in circulation until they wore flat. Few coins in good condition survived.

Publius Septimius Geta was given the rank of Caesar at the age of nine in 198 CE. The spectactular rare coin marking the event brought over $154,000. By the age of 18, Geta had grown a beard. A very rare sestertius of Geta as Caesar struck at Rome around 208. Geta was not promoted to Augustus (co-ruler) until 209, something he bitterly resented. Severus died on February 4, 211. Severus was deified by the Senate and buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome. His remains are lost. Caracalla and Geta were elevated, advised by Julia Domna.

The Romans never campaigned deep into Caledonia again: they withdrew south permanently to Hadrian's Wall.

The palace was divided into two hostile armed camps. Caracalla’s guards stabbed Geta to death December 211. Caracalla persecuted and executed most of Geta's supporters and ordered a damnatio memoriae. It became a capital offence to speak or write Geta's name.

Severus' currency debasement was the largest since the reign of Nero.

Caracalla is recorded as one of Rome's worst rulers. Caracalla introduced the antoninianus in 215, a new denomination that had a disastrous impact on the Roman economy for the rest of the third century.

The search for El Dorado – lost city of gold

The Muisca practiced a ritual for every new king.

For hundreds of years, treasure hunters searched for El Dorado, the lost city of gold. In spite of countless expeditions all over Latin America, the city of gold remains legend, with no evidence of its existence. The origins of El Dorado come from the Muisca tribe. Following two migrations – one in 1270 BC and one between 800 and 500 BC, the Muisca occupied the Cundinamarca and Boyacá areas of Colombia.

Bird-man adornment from the Cauca tribe (AD 900-1600), believed to give the wearer the skill of the creature

Muisca raft. It was found in a cave in Pasca, Colombia in 1856. Circa 1200 to 1500 BC.

During one of these rituals, the new king would be brought to Lake Guatavita, where he would be stripped and covered in gold dust. He was placed on a decorated raft, along with attendants and piles of gold. The raft went to the center of the lake, where the king would dive in, washing the gold dust from his body, as attendants  threw gold into the lake. This ritual was a sacrifice to the Muisca Gods. To the Muisca, 'El Dorado' wasn't a city, but the king at the center of the ritual, also called “the Gilded One.”

Laguna de Guatavita is located 50 km north-east of Bogotá. Conquistadores Lázaro Fonte and Hernán Perez de Quesada attempted to drain the lake in 1545 using a bucket chain of labourers.

After 3 months, the water level had been reduced by 3 metres, and only a small amount of gold was recovered. In 1580 Antonio de Sepúlveda had a notch cut deep into the rim of the lake, which managed to reduce the water level by 20 metres, before collapsing and killing many of the labourers. Various golden ornaments, jewellery and armour were found. Sepúlveda died a poor man, and is buried at the church in the small town of Guatavita.

In 1898 the lake was drained by means of a tunnel that emerged in the centre. The water was eventually drained to a depth of about 4 feet of mud and slime. When the mud dried in the sun, it set like concrete. A haul of only £500 was found, and subsequently auctioned at Sothebys of London. The Colombian government declared the lake a protected area in 1965.

Bogota’s Museum of Gold looks at the reality behind the stories that excited the European imagination from the 16th century onwards. As the legends shifted, so has the location of El Dorado. Searches span all areas of Latin America. Expeditions to find El Dorado have been conducted far and wide and continue to this day.

Gold from 1583 shipwreck unveiled

Peter Hughes, 69, spent 21 years uncovering hundreds of items with his metal detector.

He prowled after storms blew away the sand concealing treasure on Margam Beach in Neath Port Talbot. He first struck gold in 1996. Portuguese gold São Vicente, struck in 1555-1557.

The finds are dated to the 1583 shipwreck of the Ann Francis. It was returning to the U.K. with payment after delivering grain.

Gold coins date to the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. There is also a Boatswain's whistle and a brass combination lock from one of the wooden chests - with its code still to be cracked.

The Malagana Treasure

In 1992 a sugarcane farm employee was working the fields at the Hacienda Malagana located in Colombia‘s Cauca Valley. The ground gave way, and both man and machine tumbled into a hole. The worker noticed shiny, golden objects in the dirt. Upon closer inspection he realized he’d found ancient gold. The artifacts were grave goods from burial tombs of a previously unknown indigenous culture of Colombia. His secret didn’t last. Word spread like wildfire, and a looting frenzy began. Between October and December 1992, thousands descended upon Hacienda Malagana in what was called the “Malagana Gold Rush”.

Almost four tons of pre-Columbian artifacts were removed from the site to be melted down or sold to collectors in what was described as the “grandest haul since the Conquistadores.” By 1994 the treasure hunters had given up as the cemetery had been destroyed. Archaeologists were able to learn more about the mysterious culture. They found that the site was used for rich burials between 300 BC and 300 AD.

Jaguar lime flask, Calima Malagana, 200 BC.

Colombia's Museo del Oro, 'Museum of Gold' launched a campaign to locate and recover as many artifacts as possible that were stolen from the tombs of the main cemetery at Hacienda Malagana. Over 150 often stunning objects were eventually acquired.