The Domitianus Gold Coin

In April 2003, 32-year-old Brian Malin, a factory supervisor from Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, went looking for treasure with his metal detector in a local field.

After a fruitless morning’s hunting, Malin was just about to give up and go home when the machine beeped a signal. On examination, the find was revealed to an extremely rare gold coin from the dynasty of the little-known emperor Domitianus, or Domitian II. The coin was one of many that were stuffed into a bowl containing the coins.



Richard Abdy, the curator of Roman coins at the British Museum, who first spotted the coin as he separated it from a mass of nearly 5,000 found fused together in Mr Malin's pot, said: "It is an exceptionally rare coin. What this small coin establishes is that we now have a new emperor who is not mentioned in the history books.

"His reign, probably because it was so brief, has gone undocumented in his own era. But because of what was found in a field so many years afterwards we can shed new light on a fragmenting Roman empire."

The coin shows a likeness of Domitianus, or Domitian, in profile wearing a crown of rays with an inscription confirming his status as emperor - Imp(erator) C(aesar). It is probably not an accurate portrait, since it is similar to both his predecessor and his successor.

The coin was of such significance that it was displayed in the British Museum and netted the finder and field owner a handy £47,000.