A father from the Rhineland set out in autumn 2025 to briefly scan a field near Wesseling, south of Cologne, with his metal detector. The device beeped and he uncovered a Roman silver coin, and then several more.
It was probably the find of his life. The amateur treasure hunter, a father from the Rhineland, had not been expecting anything special that day when his metal detector suddenly beeped. He uncovered a Roman silver coin, then more. By the time he had reached 15 and the detector was still sounding, he realised: "This was something much bigger."
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What archaeologists subsequently recovered exceeded all expectations: 934 Roman silver denarii with a total weight of 3,1 kilograms. The Rhineland Regional Authority (LVR) describes the discovery as the largest known hoard of coins from the reign of Emperor Hadrian on the territory of present-day Germany. Worldwide, there are thought to be only four larger Roman hoards from this period.
The site lies south of Cologne, in a region that played an important role during the Roman imperial era. The nearby Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, today’s Cologne, was then a major political, military and economic centre on the Rhine.
A fortune that was probably handed down over generations
The time span of the coins is particularly fascinating. The oldest dates from 148 BC, in the era of the Roman Republic. The most recent was struck in AD 124/125. More than 270 years separate the two. When the hoard was probably buried in the second quarter of the 2nd century, the oldest coin was already more than two and a half centuries old, yet apparently still valid as a means of payment. The find therefore also shows how long older coins could remain in circulation in the Roman monetary system.
It is difficult to convert the value of the hoard into modern money. An idea is provided by the pay of a Roman legionary: at the time, an ordinary soldier received around 300 denarii a year, about half of which was withheld for food and equipment. To save a comparable amount, he would have had to put aside all of his disposable income for around six years.
Why was the hoard never recovered?
Archaeologists assume that the money was deliberately buried for safekeeping. The person who hid it probably died before they could tell anyone about the cache.
The way the hoard was recovered offers at least some clues. Part of the coins were brought to the restoration workshop of the LVR-Landesmuseum Bonn as a single block of soil. X-ray images revealed, among other things, fragments of a ceramic vessel and straw remains. Apparently someone had once stored the coins in a container padded with straw.
It seems likely that the fortune was accumulated around AD 100, but only buried several decades later, during the reign of Emperor Hadrian.
A brief excursion into the period from which the hoard dates: Emperor Hadrian (AD 76-138) ruled the Roman Empire from 117 until his death at the age of 62. He is regarded as one of the so-called "five good emperors" and focused on securing and consolidating the vast empire. Hadrian travelled through large parts of the realm, had roads, temples and cities expanded, and became particularly famous for Hadrian’s Wall in Britannia, intended to secure the Roman frontier against the northern tribes.
His rule, however, was not peaceful. From 132 to 135 there was an uprising against Roman rule in the province of Judaea, which extended over parts of present-day Israel and the Palestinian territories. Led by Simon Bar Kochba, Jewish rebels fought against the Romans. The revolt was brutally crushed by Rome.
The silver coins found by the man from the Rhineland now belong to the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the finder is to receive a reward.
Part of the coins were shown to the public for the first time this September in Bonn. From March 2027 the hoard is expected to go on display in the permanent archaeological exhibition of Bonn’s LVR-LandesMuseum.
