934 Roman Silver Coins Found Near Cologne, Germany

A metal detector beeped, and a man stopped digging after 15 coins. He knew a few coins did not explain that signal, and he was right: 934 Roman silver coins were waiting underneath.

Oliver Riedl, a licensed metal detectorist trained by regional archaeological authorities, found the hoard about a year ago in a field near Wesseling, a few miles south of Cologne. He told the Rhineland regional government he immediately informed the office because something bigger was in the ground. Archaeologists then excavated the entire stash, which weighs almost 7 pounds (3.1 kilograms). The block of earth holding the coins was lifted whole and X-rayed before it was opened. The coins are now on display at the LVR-Landesmuseum in Bonn.

A hoard from Hadrian’s day

All 934 coins are denarii, the standard silver coin of the early Roman Empire. The most recent was minted in A.D. 124 or 125, so archaeologists think the hoard was buried during the reign of Hadrian, who ruled from A.D. 117 to 138. It is one of the largest Hadrian-era silver hoards found in Germany.

The coins span more than three centuries. The oldest dates to 148 B.C., in the time of the Roman Republic, which made it roughly 270 years old when the hoard was buried. Most of the coins come from the Flavian emperors, Vespasian and his sons Titus and Domitian, who ruled from A.D. 69 to 96.

What it was worth

Regional archaeologist Rahel Otte, who led the excavation, said a Roman legionary earned 300 denarii a year under Hadrian, and about half went to food and equipment. A soldier would have had to save all his available money for around six years to build up the Wesseling hoard.

Who buried it, and why it stayed buried

Erich Claßen, head of archaeology for the Rhineland regional government, said the original owner seems to have collected most of the coins around A.D. 100 but buried them only in Hadrian’s time. He said banks did not exist then, so someone very likely wanted to keep the money safe. The owner never came back, possibly because they died without passing on the knowledge of the coins. Otte said the person may have lived on one of the Roman estates in the area.

Marjanko Pilekić, a coin expert at the German Historical Museum in Berlin who was not involved, noted that the find lies just inside the Roman frontier along the Rhine. That location suggests the hoard was buried not long after the newest coin was made.

Sources

• Live Science, 22 September 2026, citing a statement from Germany’s Rhineland regional government (LVR)