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The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal Numismatic Society

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COINAGE AND CURRENCY IN ROMAN BRITAIN. 497<br />

first make <strong>the</strong>ir appearance in <strong>the</strong> last half <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

fourth century.<br />

<strong>The</strong> stamp on one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se ingots bears <strong>the</strong> inscrip-<br />

tion OF. PRIMVS. TR. PVS. PI, no doubt correctly<br />

interpreted by Willers Of(ficinator) primus Tr(everorum),<br />

pus(ulati] p(ondo) I = unum or una libra. <strong>The</strong><br />

stamp on <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r ingot reads .. PRI(S)CI. TR PS<br />

P. I, conjecturally completed . . Prisci(anus) Tr(e-<br />

verorum) p(u)s(ulati) (P)ondo (U)num.<br />

Pusulatum, sometimes pustulatum, was <strong>the</strong> regular<br />

name for silver refined by <strong>the</strong> process <strong>of</strong> cupellation,<br />

<strong>the</strong> surface <strong>of</strong> which in consequence <strong>of</strong> this pre-<br />

sented a pimpled or "pustuled" appearance. Classical<br />

scholars will recall Martial's lines referring to Spanish<br />

silver :<br />

"Nulla venit a me<br />

Hispani tibi libra pustulati." 102<br />

Even more apposite is <strong>the</strong> passage in Suetonius<br />

recording Nero's whim to have nothing but newly<br />

" minted coin :<br />

. . nummum asperum, argentum pu-<br />

stulatum, aurum ad obrussam." 103 We have here<br />

coupled <strong>the</strong> two technical expressions for pure silver<br />

<strong>and</strong> gold, afterwards taken over into <strong>of</strong>ficial stamps<br />

<strong>and</strong> dies.<br />

<strong>The</strong> abbreviated form PS given for pusulatum 011 <strong>the</strong><br />

last-mentioned ingot at once explains <strong>the</strong> appearance <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong>se letters after <strong>the</strong> indication <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> mint 011 silver<br />

pieces, <strong>of</strong> which <strong>the</strong> first were struck by Valentinian<br />

<strong>and</strong> his colleagues in <strong>the</strong> Western mints. Such are<br />

TR PS, as on <strong>the</strong> ingot at Treves, LVC PS at Lyons,<br />

102 Lib. vii, Ep. 86, ver. 6, 7, <strong>and</strong> cp. viii, Ep. 51, ver. 6.<br />

103<br />

Suetonius, Nero, c. 44. 2.

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