About This Coin
A copper-alloy coin bearing the image of Roman Emperor Claudius II, discovered on Lot 5 during Season 13 of The Curse of Oak Island. The coin was unearthed by metal detectorist Katya Drayton in the southern portion of Lot 5, in an area where several Roman-era coins had previously been recovered.
In the lab, archeometallurgist Emma Culligan performed an XRF scan revealing a composition of copper, iron, calcium and silver - a mix she noted was consistent with an older coin. A CT scan of the heavily worn surface revealed what appeared to be a Roman portrait, which she identified as Claudius II and dated to approximately 250-270 AD. Culligan observed that the coin appeared to have been in its location for a considerable period of time.
Numismatist Sandy Campbell subsequently examined the coin at the research centre and confirmed the identification. He noted that the CT scan appeared to show a figure holding an oak leaf on the reverse - an iconographic detail consistent with known Claudius II coinage. Campbell described it as the most remarkable of all the Roman coins discovered on the island to date, and confirmed the 3rd-century dating, consistent with Culligan's findings. He also noted that coins of this type continued to circulate as currency well into the 1500s, making the question of when the coin was actually deposited on Oak Island - as team member Tom Nolan pointedly observed - the real million-dollar question.
Claudius II, known as "Gothicus" for his decisive victories against Gothic invaders, ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century from 268 to 270 AD. His antoninianus coinage - originally a silver denomination that had been debased to copper-alloy by his reign - was minted in enormous quantities across the empire and remained in wide circulation for centuries after his death from plague in 270 AD.
The coin is the sixth Roman-era coin recovered from Lot 5, an area of Oak Island with no known history of habitation. The concentration of Roman coinage in a single uninhabited lot remains one of the more puzzling patterns in the Oak Island archaeological record.
Where It Was Found
Found at Lot 5 — Oak Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.
