A Coin for Some Cigarettes, 81 Years Later

 Tonight I'm writing about a family treasure. My brothers and I have a number of treasures handed down through our family. Some span generations, some only two.

One such treasure is a coin my father brought back from World War II. He was in a finance/logistics unit that was attached to Patton's Third Army, which worked its way across northern France toward Germany. He remembered seeing General Patton ordering his driver to drive his Jeep up the front stairs of a French town hall, with Patton himself jumping out and demanding gasoline for his tanks. One of the towns that he found himself in was Reims, which is northeast of Paris. Outside Reims Cathedral he was approached by a French farmer. The farmer asked him if he had any cigarettes he wanted to part with, knowing that American soldiers were supplied with cigarettes. Dad said he did, and pulled out a partial pack from his pocket. The soldier paused and said that he didn't have any money, and said that the only thing he had of value was a Roman coin which he had on a string around his neck. The coin had been plowed up in their field. Dad thought it was a fair trade and parted with his cigarettes. He was interested in history so he thought the coin would be an interesting souvenir.

This was in 1944. Eighty one years later I have the coin. He gave it to me a number of years before his death, when he was distributing family possessions after my mother's death.

So here is the coin.

It was minted during the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius, probably around 41-42 AD. Claudius was the emperor who successfully conquered Britain in 43 AD. So if the coin was found in northern France it is likely that the person who lost it was perhaps a soldier on his way to crossing the English Channel. 

This coin is a bronze sestertius, which was a quarter of a silver denarius. It is about 1.5" in diameter, about the same as an older US dollar coin. The denarius was a silver coin about the size of a US penny and was a day's wages for a soldier or laborer. So this sestertius could easily have bought a meal for a soldier or laborer. Equivalent to perhaps $10-15 today? Not a small amount to be sure. Today the coin would easily be worth more than $100, given its excellent condition, which suggests it was dropped not long after it was made, but long enough to accumulate some wear. The hold diminishes the value considerably. It doesn't matter to me. I treasure it.

The coin commemorates Claudius' father, Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus. He led successful military campaigns into Germania, which the Romans sincerely wanted to conquer. The Roman Empire was always a work in progress. With each new conquest of territory came the desire for a buffer zone between Roman territory and the barbarians on the other side of the border. This meant that the Roman military was always trying to expand its border. With that concern foremost in their minds there was no limit as to how far they would go. There was always more territory to conquer. What the Romans discovered, though, was that it was one thing to conquer territory. It was quite another to organize it and govern it. They generally did that well, but in the end they over-extended themselves.

So Dad's coin is a microcosm of early European history. It reflects the time that it comes from but its secondary context is the trade in 1944 for a pack of cigarettes. And now I have it to enjoy, knowing the whole history.