The Shapwick Treasure is a hoard of 9,262 Roman coins found in Shapwick, Somerset, England in September 1998, coins not dated from as early as 31-30 B.C. to 224 A.D. The treasure also included two rare coins not previously found in Britain, and the largest number of silver denarii ever found in Britain,
The treasure was discovered by cousins Kevin and Martin Elliott, who were amateur metal detectors, in a field in Shapwick. Excavations revealed that it was "buried in the corner of a room of a previously unknown Roman building," and after further excavations and geophysical investigations "it was discovered that the room was part of a villa in the courtyard."
After an investigation into the treasure at Taunton, the treasure was declared a treasure and valued at £265,000. The Somerset County Museum Service acquired the treasure with the help of Somerset County Council, the National Heritage Memorial Fund, and other organizations, and it is now on display at the Somerset Museum on the grounds of Tonton Castle.
A supplement to the discovery was filed in Treasure Annual Report 2000, which added 23 more coins, valued at £690, and found by Kevin and Martin Elliot.
Notable inclusions in the hoard were 260 coins from the reign of Mark Antony 31-30 B.C., with more than half minted during the reign of Septimius Severus (193-211). There were also two rare coins not found in Britain until the depiction of Manlia Scantilla, the wife of Didius Julian, the emperor assassinated four weeks after the minting. Neremic coins included: three Lycian drachmas and one drachma of Caesarea in Cappadocia. The last coin was minted in 224 A.D., and it is assumed that the hoard as a whole represents a ten-year payment for a Roman legionary.
