Letter 4206

Gaudy writes to Sloane with no apology he says because Sloane is one of the top Virtuosi. He writes that a dealer in his town has a very fair gold coin of the Emperor Titus who was selling it for the intrinsic value of the gold and asked Gaudy to describe it to ” some curious gentlemen that might be likely to purchase it”. He thought of Dr. Trumball, Mr. Bridgeman and others who are now dead and thus wrote to Sloane, though they are strangers. The piece is 3/4 of an inch in diameter with the emperor’s head on one side with letters inscribed on the edge (IMPTITVSCAESVESPASIANAVGPM). On the reverse is an anchor with a Dolphin twisted around it with this (TRIPIXIMPXV CO SVIIIP P) written with the letters turned outwards. it weighs 4 1/2 : 3gr. He believes it to be found about Chester where the 10th legion lay called legio victrix which Julius Agricola subdued the Ordovices, upon which Titus was the 15th. It appears to have been struck after this in his 8th Consulship and the 9th year of his Tribunitain Power, which was a year after his fathers death (He thinks Anno Dom. 80). The seller would like to get some guineas for it and if Sloane is interested he is to send a letter (vie a Mrs. Bakeman at Sloane’s neighbours’ Mr. Mountain the Carpenter’s) indicating how much he would be willing to pay, supposing it is original, which he thinks it is. If the offer is accepted, then they can exchange it through a friend in London.