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Summary

Hoard of Iron Age currency bars found during ploughing in 1991. The bars had been tied together with twine to make several bundles and buried in a pit.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX86NE/419

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• FINDSPOT (Iron Age - 700 BC to 42 AD)

Full description

DISCOVERING DEVON'S PAST, Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV315896.

Hoard of ia currency bars found during ploughing in 1991. Small excavation undertaken. The bars had been tied together with twine to make several bundles and buried in a pit. Hoard taken to eh am lab then to be displayed at ram museum, exeter (discovering devon's past).

English Heritage, 1992, Ancient Monuments Laboratory Reports 13: July to December 1992, 81/92 (Report - Scientific). SDV356335.

Gale, R. M. O., 1992, Coffinswell, Great West Brooke, Torbay, The identification of mineral replaced plant material associated with Iron Age currency bars (Report - Scientific). SDV355483.

Ties, used to secure iron age metal currency bars, and other fragments of plant material preserved by mineral replacement of tissues. Examination of ties indicated use of several herbaceous stems. Abundance of bracken adhering to other areas of bars suggest possible use as packing material.

Horner, B., 2014, What's in the RAMM #1: The Coffinswell 'Currency Bars', 9 (Article in Serial). SDV358510.

An Iron Age hoard of 'currency bars' were discovered by chance in 1990 following the ploughing of a field near Coffinswell. The finds were reported by the farmer to local metal detectorists.
In 1991 a small excavation took place, and found that the ingots had been buried in a pit. They were excavated as a solid block in order to be uncovered in detail at English Heritage's Ancient Monuments lab in London.
There were 80 surviving bars that had been buried in bundles of 8 to 11 bars, and tied together with fern twine.

Quinnell, H., 2020, Revisiting the Coffinswell hoard of iron currency bars - a lockdown activity, 6 (Article in Serial). SDV364327.

A hoard of 80-100 iron currency bars (Type K) was disturbed by ploughing in 1990. Subsequent excavation showed that the bars were in small bundles and had been tightly packed into a pit. The bars, corroded into a single unit, were lifted en masse. It has not been possible to separate the bars. Little metallurgical investigation has been undertaken until now but work is now progressing towards a full report.
Julius Caesar refers to the Britons using bronze or gold coins or 'iron bars of fixed weights' for money (Gallic Wars book 5.12). However it is now thought that the bars were crafted to show the quality of their material.

Watts, S., 2021, Iron currency bars (Personal Comment). SDV364328.

Julius Caesar specifically refers to the Britons using 'iron bars of fixed weights' as a form of currency. It is possible that these were indeed crafted to a high quality in order to be used for exchange during trading agreements.

Crew, P. + Quinnell, H., 2022, A Hoard of Iron Currency Bars from Coffinswell, South Devon, 41-75; Figs 1-17; Tables 1-6 (Article in Serial). SDV365464.

The five day excavation was undertaken by Exeter Museums Archaeological Field Unit in 1991. The main group of bars was lying in a shallow pit, with maximum dimensions of 1.19m by 1.15m by 0.16m deep. A distinctive patchy black deposit was visible around much of the pit edge.
The bars were well preserved, the round end of sockets visible at both ends of the deposit. They lay in apparent bundles, oriented NNE to SSW, tightly packed and wedged against the vertical south edge of the pit. The other pit edges were less well defined and more gradually sloped. No other features were present in the trench except two recent land drains.
The main block comprised eight bundles, each perhaps originally of 10 bars. They are tied so tightly that the lower parts of the blades are slightly bent. The ties are formed from multiple herbaceous stems, probably including bracken, twisted or plaited together with an overall thickness of 10 to 17.5mm. In addition there were a number of loose bars and fragments.
In 2021 a number of short lengths deemed suitable as disposable samples were submitted for further assessment. Assessment of Bar B66 revealed a well-developed banded structure, mainly a result of forging and refining a bloom with mixed zones of iron of different composition. This structure, and especially the high arsenic content of the iron are rather unusual. Further sampling from the other bars will be undertaken and reported in Historical Metallurgy.
There are several sources of rock iron ores on Dartmoor which are suitable for smelting in a bloomer, though none have any quantity of phosphorus or arsenic and so could not be a source of the Coffinswell bars.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments: none recorded

Associated Finds

• FDV4837 - CURRENCY BAR (Early Iron Age to Unknown - 700 BC)

Associated Events: none recorded

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