In 1972, a woman near Savannah, Ga. found an ancient Roman coin in a pile of debris near her home, but did not realize how valuable the coin was until over 40 years later.
While talking with a plumber who was hired to dig a trench to hook her house up to a sewer system, Janet Jernigan looked down to see a shiny coin in the dirt. Because she thought the coin was pretty, she kept the coin and placed it in her jewelry box.
In 2007, Jernigan came upon a website that catalogued coins and coin collections. In the search box, she entered the description of her coin.
“The next screen that came up almost knocked me out of my chair,” Jernigan said.
The coin is one of only three other coins found in the United States. One is a part of the Ottila Buerger Collection of Ancient Coins at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis. The other is in the American Numismatic Society Collection in New York City.
According to Jernigan, the coin was a silver denarius minted between 29 B.C. and 27 B.C, and commemorates the naval victory of Octavian, also known as Caesar Augustus, grandnephew of Julius Caesar, against Octavian's rivals, Marc Antony and Cleopatra of Egypt. As legend has it, when Cleopatra saw that Marc Antony had been defeated, she ordered her ships to take her to Egypt, where she killed herself, supposedly by enticing a snake to bite her. Antony soon followed her.
On one side of the coin, Victoria, Roman goddess of victory, stands on the prow of a ship, holding a wreath in her right hand and a palm frond in the other. On the obverse, Octavian rides in a chariot, holding an olive branch in one hand and the reins of four horses in the other. Below is ‘IMP.CAESAR’ standing for Imperator Caesar. He was declared the first emperor of the Roman Empire.
As for how a coin from the Roman Empire got to the dirt outside of Savannah, Georgia, Jernigan explained that it had simply gotten stuck amongst ballast used to hold ships down in the water when they were empty.
When ships arrived in ports to load cargo, the ballast was dumped beside the port. Ships had sailed into Savannah’s ports empty for hundreds of years throwing old stones out to be replaced with exported items from the United States.
“On or about September 2, 31 B.C., the naval Battle of Actium between the two rivals, Octavian and Marc Antony took place,” Jernigan said. “In remembrance of this date, I returned to my hometown of Memphis, Tenn. to gift the coin to the University of Memphis Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology so that it can be seen by the public.”
“As always having an interest in Egyptology and being a native of a town named after Memphis, Egypt, I thought the University of Memphis would be the most fitting place for the coin to reside.”
Jernigan has tried in the past to have the coin valued and authenticated but her attempts were unsuccessful. According to her, the value of the coin is priceless.
“We consider them [all pieces of art in the museum] historical documents and records of history. They are antiques,” said Dr. Lorelei Corcoran, Director of the Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology.
Dr. Fred Albertson, Classical Art Historian, will research the coin. It will be on display in the museum with other coins of the same time period.
The Art Museum is located in the Communication and Fine Arts building. It is open Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.
