After conquest and occupation by the Romans, the Gaulish currency, as well as that of ancient Britain, was superseded by Roman issues. Mr. Edward Hawkins, in his standard work on the Silver Coins of England[C] (page 22), tersely and precisely explains what happened in England; and the Channel Islands came within the same provisions and action.

"It is natural to suppose that when the Roman power had become established in Britain, the ordinary money of that empire would form the general circulation of this country, and that British money would be for the most part, if not entirely, superseded. Gildas asserts that an edict was actually issued and enforced, ordaining that all money current in this island should bear the image and superscription of the Roman Emperor; and the circumstance of Roman coins being almost daily turned up in every part of the country amply confirms his statement. It is quite unnecessary to enter here into any description of that money, as it is perfectly well known to everyone, and numerous treatises and descriptions of it have been published in all languages."

Just as stated above, it would be but going over ground already thoroughly well trodden to treat of the different Roman coins discovered in the Channel islands. They are similar to those which have come to light on the south coast of England and in Normandy and Brittany. I will, however, append at length the following note from William Nicolle, Esq., Jurat, of Bosville, King's Cliff, Jersey, who has favoured me with particulars of Roman coins found in Jersey, and now in his possession:—

"The Roman coins in my possession are 342 in number, and form part of a find which was made in February, 1848, in the district of 'Les Quenvais,' in the parish of St. Brelade's, Jersey. They were described in a paper which was contributed to the Worcester Congress in the summer of 1848, by the late Mr. F. C. Lukis, F.S.A., the eminent Guernsey archÆologist, and which was published in the 'Journal of the ArchÆological Association,' Vol. IV., page 272.

"Mr. Lukis says:—'By a series of sections the accumulation of sand in Les Quenvais bears marks of several inundations, quite distinct in their appearance, and varying somewhat in their directions. The soil and clay beneath this sandy mass exhibit Roman vestiges of pottery and other articles, so that we cannot be far wrong in attributing the change in this supposed fertile district to a period not far removed from the Roman subjugation of western Europe. Fragments of Roman pottery from beneath the sandy hillocks of Les Quenvais, in the possession of Col. Le Couteur, of Jersey, Aide-de-camp to Her Majesty, present indubitable marks of the possession of this district by those conquerors. And, as if a further proof were wanting, in February last a jar[D] of coarse earthenware, which contained 400 brass coins in excellent state of preservation, was dug out from the substratum, where it may have been lodged at the time of the Roman occupation of Jersey.'

"Mr. Lukis then proceeds to describe at length the different varieties of coins in this find under the respective emperors, though his details are not always correct.

"Of the 342 brass coins in my possession 208 are coins of Constantine the Great, or his son, 86 of Licinius, 16 of Maximinus, 14 of Maxentius, 11 of Maximianus, and 7 of Constantius Chlorus.

"Two emperors had the common name of Maximianus. The elder reigned from 286 to 310, and the younger from 305 to 311. Of the 11 coins of these emperors, there are 7 of the elder and 4 of the younger. The first bear on the obverse the legend D. N. Maximiano P. F. S. Aug., and the second the words Imp. C. Val. Maximianus P. F. Aug.

"Constantius I., or Constantius Chlorus, reigned one year, from the first of May, 305, to July 25th, 306, when he died at Eboracum, now York. During the whole of this period he remained in Gaul and Britain. The 7 coins of this emperor are all of the same mintage. An exact facsimile of them is given on page 262 of Stevenson's 'Dictionary of Roman Coins,' with the slight difference that in the exergue the letters are P. L. N. instead of P. T. R.

"Constantine the Great reigned from 306 to 337. He was the son of Constantius Chlorus, and was with him at Eboracum at the time of his death, and there assumed the purple. His son, Constantius II., or Junior, was named CÆsar by his father in 317, and died in 340. There is no proper criterion by which to distinguish the coins of these two emperors. Of the 208 coins of Constantine in my collection there are about 30 varieties.

"Maximinus II. reigned from 305 to 313; Maxentius from 306 to 312; and Licinius from 307 to 324.

"It is probable that all, or almost all, the 342 coins of this collection were minted during the first quarter of the 4th century—in fact, during the ten years between A.D. 305 and 315."