Lava Treasure Back in the News
The late 20th-century find of third-century A.D. Roman gold coins and an ancient gold plate, dubbed “The Lava Treasure,” is back in the news.
Readers may not be familiar with the Lava Treasure, but the late 20th-century find of third-century A.D. Roman gold coins, as well as an ancient gold plate, is back in the news.
On January 30, Félix Biancamaria was put on trial in Marseille, France, accused of attempting to sell a rare gold plate weighing 879 grams that is associated with the approximately 1,400 ancient Roman gold aureii coins Biancamaria was previously convicted of selling illegally. Biancamaria, along with his brother and one other individual, received an 18-month suspended sentence and a €15,000 fine in 1994. The plate was not known at the time of Biancamaria’s 1994 conviction.
Ironically, in his 2004 book, Le Trésor de Lava (The Lava Treasure), Biancamaria admits to finding the gold coins and the plate as well as other treasures. Biancamaria describes finding the plate under a rock on the seabed of the Gulf of Lava (part of the Gulf of Ajaccio) in southern Corsica, France. Treasure found at sea is considered to belong to the state. Biancamaria is now arguing he found the plate on land, which would mean he has rights to the plate as its finder.
According to France’s Central Office for Combating Trafficking Deputy Jean-Luc Boyer, “Treasures and antiques discovered at the bottom of the sea of our territory belong to the state. However, if it was found on land, the law is a little different; part could belong to the finder, but they are obliged to make a discovery declaration to the state via the culture ministry.”
One problem with the find is that no wreck from which the gold could have come has ever been found. Theories about the find include suggestions that the treasure was aboard a burned ship, that the coins originated from a coastal shipwreck, or that the find had been hidden on Corsica but ended up in the sea following a landslide.
Since no evidence of a wreck has been found, Biancamaria’s lawyer, Anna-Maria Sollacaro, has been able to argue that at the time of the discovery, the law giving maritime discoveries to the state applied only to items that came from wrecks.
According to Sollacaro, “The problem is that no wreck has ever been found in the case, not even the slightest trace that could prove that this treasure actually came from a wreck.”
The plate is understood to have been originally decorated with a medallion at the center. The medallion allegedly depicts Roman Emperor Gallienus (253-268 A.D.) and is accompanied by a diamond. Police reported that the medallion was missing when the plate was seized from Biancamaria.
No one appears to know the exact date when the Lava Treasure was first discovered, but it has been suggested it was during 1956. During that year, 41 aureii and “multiples” appeared in local Corsican markets. Ten years later, a much larger group of the coins were seized by French police. Biancamaria, his brother Angel, and their friend Marc Cotoni were convicted in 1994 for illegal antiquity trade.
Former Department of Underwater and Subaquatic Archaeological Research Director Michel L’Hour has called the coins the most important monetary treasure that we know from the 3rd century.”
There is concern the find might also be able to be dubbed “the numismatic crime of the century.” L’Hour believes a gold statuette was part of the find. This is denied by the threesome. In 2010, police recovered a valuable Roman golden vessel. It appears that a large gold statue of a youth allegedly associated with the Lava Treasure may have been melted for its intrinsic value. In Le Trésor de Lava, Biancamaria admits, “I think we melted down 40 [coins] that were in the worst condition.” It has also been confirmed some of the coins sold illegally had been cleaned.
The seized coins have been studied, but no comprehensive paper on the treasure was available when this article was written. The aureii were struck during the reigns of the Roman emperors Gallienus, Claudius “Gothicus” II (268-270), Quintillus (270), and Aurelien (270-275). According to one source, some coins have been valued at €250,000 each. Many of these coins were seized from the finders in 1986.
It is understood that the 450 coins from the treasure that were studied date from 262 A.D. at the time of the decennalia of Gallienus through 272 during the reign of Aurelian. About two-thirds of these aureii have been attributed to Aurelian, with most of the remainder attributed to having been issued in the name of Claudius Gothicus.
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