A Roman coin dated 69AD is up for auction at Fieldings Auctioneers, Stourbridge.

Transcript

00:00My name is Mark Hannam from Fieldings Auctioneers in Stourbridge and I show you this fantastic

00:06gold Roman coin by the Emperor Aurelius Vitellius of AD 69. A fantastic coin and believed to

00:14be unique to the British Isles and the only example ever found and particularly important

00:18to the West Midlands. This particular coin was found by a metal detectorist not far from

00:23King Swinford in South Staffordshire and will come up for auction on the 27th March at Fieldings

00:29Auctioneers in Stourbridge. You may remember the film Gladiator, the opening scene where

00:35Commodus subdues the Germanic tribes and like Vitellius in this particular instance he also

00:41was sent by the Roman government to subdue the tribes of one of the four Emperors of

00:46AD 69. He arrived triumphantly back in Rome after defeating his opposition number Otho

00:52and had not a series of gains but had a series of feasting and debauchery. He was eventually

00:59subdued by the Roman populace with the aid of Vespasian from the eastern province of

01:03the Roman Empire and it is believed that over 50,000 Roman citizens were put to death and

01:08killed. He was located hidden in a shopkeeper's door and promptly taken out, decapitated and

01:15his body thrown into the Tiber. This wonderful coin appears at Fieldings Auctioneers with

01:21the estimate at £4,000 to £6,000.