LOT 0639

'The Witherley' Roman Lead Pig Ingot

4TH CENTURY A.D.

19 in. (74 kg, 48 cm).

A substantial lead pig (ingot), sub-rectangular in plan and plano-convex in section, reserved partial numerical inscription to central recess on the upper face, possibly: ‘CCCXXXXI’ or 341 Roman libra, a denomination of weight and the original weight of the ingot.

Found while searching with a metal detector on Wednesday 2nd September 2020 in Witherley, Leicestershire, UK, at a depth of 57cm by Nick Thorpe.

Accompanied by Portable Antiquities Scheme Report number LEIC-62F9AF.
Accompanied by a copy of a full page article published in Treasure Hunting Magazine, March 2021.
Accompanied by copies of four photographs taken during excavation, and a hand written letter from the finder explaining the circumstances of finding.
Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.10791-178320.

‘Possible Roman Lead Ingot’ in Treasure hunting, March 2021, p.15.

See Palmer, L.S. & Ashworth, H.W.W., ‘Four Pigs of Lead from the Mendips,’ in Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, 1956, nos.101-2, pp.52-88; Tylecote, R.F., ‘Roman Lead Working in Britain’ in The British Journal for the History of Science, Vol.2, no.1, June 1964; Potter, T.W., Roman Britain, London, 1983, p.50, figs.55,57; Gardiner, V., ‘An analysis of Romano-British Lead Pigs’ in IAMS 21, 2001, pp.11-13; Gale Brown, H., A study of lead ingot cargoes from ancient Mediterranean Shipwrecks, Vermont, 2011.

Although ingots are known to have been made in many shapes, the plano-convex shape was the most commonly used during the Roman period (Tylecote, 1987, p.204). The Witherley lead pig is certainly, at the moment, one of the largest of its kind found in Britain. The inscription relates to its weight in Roman libra, and it seems that originally the weight of the complete ingot was circa 110 kg. Such inscriptions appear on Roman ingots from the early Imperial Age onwards, see for example Gale Brown (2011, no.61.3ff.) The high percentage of lead in our ingot (97.9% lead, 1.5 % iron by XRF), is far higher than many other known specimens. Roman ingots are particularly important in many respects: in addition to their use for dating various phases of commercial activity, they can reveal the extent to which standardisation of weights was practised. The presence of numerical markings has led to suggestions of the existence of a 'standard weight' of 195 Roman libra (63.85 kg).