Details

LOT 0759

Romano-British Legionary Terracotta Tile Fragment Group

1ST-4TH CENTURY A.D.

5 1/8 - 6 in. (1.46 kg total, 13-15.4 cm).

Group of three terracotta fragments with impressed stamps '[..]NVAC', 'LEG.AVG' and one marked freehand '[..}LITOF[..]'. [3, No Reserve]

Provenance

Found UK.
From the collection of a late East Anglian teacher and antiquarian who retired to the Isle of Wight in Hampshire, UK.
He amassed a large collection of objects between the 1960s-1980s.

Literature

Cf. Warry, P., ‘Legionary Tile Production in Britain’ in Britannia, volume 41, November 2010, pp.127-147, fig.3, p.133, for similar tiles; for the history of the Legio II Augusta see D'Amato, R., La grande storia delle legioni romane (The great history of the Roman legions), Roma, 2023, pp.156-160.

Footnotes

The bricks belonged to the famous Legio II Augusta, (Legio II Gallica Augusta Sabina Britannica Felix) which since the 43 A.D. until the 5th century A.D. were linked to Britain. Its headquarters were at Isca Augusta or Isca Silurum (Newport in South Wales) and in the Late Empire at Rutupiae (Richborough). Traces of this legion were still found in Sub-Roman Britain and Sub-Roman Gallia in 5th-6th centuries A.D.