In the years 2004–2007 a number of interesting discoveries of Roman coins occurred in the basin of the river Bzura in central Poland. Among them the most notable are three hoards of denarii: from Krzyżanówek, Sobota and the region of Sochaczew. The original size of these assemblages is hard to estimate. With a probability bordering on certainty we may assume that only a part of the coins scattered by ploughing was recovered. Coins from the three hoards are confined to the period between the death of Nero (54–68 AD) and the first years of the reign of Septimius Severus (193–211 AD). Only a supposed Republican coin belonging to one of the hoards falls outside these chronological limits. Much more interesting than the content of the hoards is what we may surmise to have been the manner of their deposition. As may be concluded from what in most cases are rather laconic descriptions of the place of discovery of the coins, they were discovered not far from the river. Moreover, the fact that they had been scattered by ploughing suggests that originally they rested at a relatively shallow depth in the ground. From the described circumstances the recently discovered hoards are all similar to the largest deposit recorded on the river Bzura so far — the hoard from Drzewicz Nowy, described in detail and analysed in a monograph of A. Krzyżanowska (1976). The vestigial character of the data on the new hoards makes it possible only to propose a very cautious hypothesis as to the occurrence in the basin of the Bzura of a whole series of hoards of ‘Drzewicz type’, probably deposited for votive reasons. In the same area 54 silver and bronze Roman coins from 33 recent small finds were also registered. Most of them were denarii of the first and second centuries, including five subaerati (1 certain and 4 supposed). Only one of the recently found denarii had been struck in the third century. The rest of the newly discovered coins were two sestertii of the second and third centuries and two bronzes of the fourth century. On the basis of various premises (eg. coin finds from localities known through archaeological excavations) it is possible to assume that sizable numbers of these coins were discovered at a specific archaeological site and could be regarded as a settlement or grave find. The basin of the river Bzura, heavily populated during the Roman Period, abounds in finds of Roman coins and has yielded one of the largest concentration of recorded Roman coin finds in Poland.

W ostatnim czasie udało się zarejestrować w jednym z prywatnych polskich zbiorów monet antycznych dwie brązowe monety należące do typu nienotowanego w dotychczasowej literaturze. Ze względu na niewątpliwe pochodzenie obiektów z obszaru Cyrenajki, jak również na podstawie zredukowanej legendy na rewersie oraz charakterystycznych motywów ikonograficznych, przedstawiane monety należy uznać za kwadranse Aulusa Pupiusa Rufusa — urzędnika rzymskiego, który w okresie poprzedzającym bitwę pod Akcjum (31 r. p.n.e.) odpowiadał m.in. za emisję monet na terenie Cyrenajki. Dotychczas znane były dwa typy bitych przez niego asów, dwa typy semisów oraz jeden typ kwadransa. Nieznany wcześniej drugi typ kwadransa, poddany analizie w niniejszym artykule, uzupełnia schemat mennictwa Pupiusa Rufusa w Cyrenajce o brakujący element.

In 2007, an excavation was undertaken in the supposed place of deposit of the Roman hoard of denarii in the village of Podzamcze (central Poland). In the older literature, the find used to be located in nearby Maciejowice. Coins found in Podzamcze in recent years, and the analysis of the information obtained so far concerning this discovery, allow the assumption that it was Podzamcze where the hoard of denarii discovered in 1875 was found. During the excavation three denarii were recovered below the humus layer: one each of Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. On 9 February 2008, the researchers undertook field prospecting again using metal detectors in the area of excavations conducted before, which resulted in recovering a quarter of another denarius of Commodus. The region of the confluence of the Okrzejka and Vistula rivers is relatively abundant in sites from the period of Roman influence. Sites of the Przeworsk culture are represented here, as well as those of the Wielbark culture, which at stage B2/C1a expanded into west Mazovia. Within this small area we find settlements, burial grounds, and also single items, including Roman coins. The coins are represented mostly by denarii from the second century, typical of Poland. However we also find earlier coins here, i.e. from the first century with an undated Republican denarius, as well as later ones, dating from the third century, represented by a follis of Maximianus Herculius (c 296–297?). In the light of the finds made in this area, the region of the confluence of the Okrzejka and Vistula rivers appears as a rather important local settlement center, which was probably connected with the outside world through various kinds of contacts.

During archaeological research in Łosień (c 32 km NE of Katowice), an early medieval smelting centre from the eleventh and twelfth centuries was revealed where lead and silver were smelted. Besides production equipment devices, seven iron, bronze-plated weights (weighing: 40 g, 39.7 g, 40 g, 40 g, 24.4 g, 17.19 g, 10.59 g) and elements of beam scales were discovered here. Nearby, a settlement was revealed. The whole complex was destroyed as a result of an armed attack. A hoard containing 1106 coins and 179 fragments of amorphous silver was discovered in the settlement (it is not clear whether it was located inside a building). All the coins were Polish: a younger variant of a cross-penny (1), and pennies of Boleslas III (1), Ladislas II (189) and Boleslas IV (949). These were almost exclusively coins minted around the middle of the twelfth century. The structure of the hoard does not reflect the structure of money circulating on the market. At that time, periodical exchange of issues was conducted every few years and use of only the coins of the newest type — at least in relations with the state — was obligatory. So the hoard was purposefully set aside as a treasure. It contains mostly better coins, minted according to the standard of 360 pennies to the mark (type 4 of Ladislas II and types 1 and 2a of Boleslas IV). A few slightly worse coins were collected, issued according to the standard of 480 pennies to the mark (types 2b and 3 of Boleslaus IV). However at the time of the deposit such standards were already a thing of the past: the standard of at least 540 pieces to the mark was already binding then. Only four specimens of such poor coins (type 4 of Boleslaus IV) were added to the hoard. It is probable that another money devaluation was related to the concealment of hoard. The presence of non-monetary silver in the hoard also proves it to have been intended as an accumulation of value in itself, consistent with the non-circulating character of the deposit. In Łosień, coins of these types have been found in a large hoard near Kraków for the first time. Previously known deposits occurring in central Poland, Great Poland, the Lublin region, and even in Silesia, made it possible to conjecture the existence of one more workshop operating in Great Poland, e.g. in Gniezno, where some types of Boleslaus IV’s coins might have been minted. Now these speculations have lost their raison d’etre. The analyses of the metal composition indicate the similarity of silver in coins and silver lumps, but the latter lack a deliberate admixture of copper. A single bracteate of Lower Silesia from the end of the thirteenth or the beginning of the fourteenth century, with bull’s head, was also found in the remains of a richly equipped dwelling house. There is no strict analogy with the bracteates in the literature.