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Translations are machine assisted with heavy human editing.

From Marchi as quoted in Coloni 1967/8:

“I made the decision to create baths for “ten to twelve of the patients” in pools that received the water “from below up … at the distance of just over half a meter from the source …, the primitive manhole (?, chiusino) which was located in the only existing pool, we agreed should be demolished, in order to connect the water with the new bathing pools: and it was only a few minutes that the pistons (steam pump) sent the spring water out of the well, when under the surface we began to discover that the manhole was cluttered with ancient metal … The water from the source was found to be a little less than forty degrees of the Reaumur thermometer, so that the first of the men who put it inside, barely managed to remove that small quantity which lay on a ridge of tile, which divided the manhole in two levels an upper and a lower and an upper  … (then) a second worker went down both to destroy the part that was largely corroded by the heat and the force of the water and also to begin to bring out the metal that was ascending under that same partition. The work lasted several hours; thirteen workers took it in turns, all of whom came out badly burned and the metal retracted sufficed to fill 2  large tubs. On 22 January last, when the excavation was completed, we arrived at the site to take account of what had happened and to examine the metal. … ”

There is a little more but I am not completely certain of the meaning Italian phrasing, but believe it wonders at the miracle of discovery

Coloni also quotes De Rossi while bemoaning exact stratigraphy was not recorded as the material was removed:

“The layers of that heap of votive gifts kept exactly the chronological order, so that at first coins and vases of the imperial age were discovered, then coins of the Roman republic and of the surrounding peoples, bars and cast, and gradually passed from the aes signatum to aes rude, after which the metal ceased and even then the researches ceased, or rather, the search for objects that attracted the greed of the seekers failed. Under the metal clumps of rock appeared, which were considered to be the bottom of the basin. I am grateful to P. Tongiorgi, director of the Kircherian Museum, for having called my attention to some of the remains of these breccias that came to his museum along with most of the aes rude mentioned. I have learned that those stones are all flints, foreign to the nature of the volcanic rocks of the place; and in all the pieces, without exception, I saw visible traces of artificial cuts. Several are evidently knives, scrapers, small arrows and wedges, or from the paleolithic or neolithic age; the rest are fragments produced by the work that could belong to either era”.

Tognetti’s account of the ‘recovery’ of the gold and silver portion of the finds:

“Fr. Marchi wondered that not even the smallest silver and gold coin could be found among so many copper coins, and only a few silver pots of a few ounces each. Later it became simple to explain, as I understood it from the mouth of Fr. Francesco Tongiorgi.

Fr. Marchi died (10 February 1860).  One day a stranger, but who later was identified presented himself to Fr. Tongiorgi, who had recently become the new Director of the Kircherian Museum, and showed him some vases of gold and silver, found, as he said, recently in some excavations, and for which (so much was their value and rarity!) demanded no less than 20,000 scudi, or about 100,000 Italian liras.

As soon as Father Tongiorgi held them in his name, reading the name of Apollo in some, he began to suspect that they were part of the treasure of Vicarello. But he soon put down all doubt; because seeing that one of the silver jars had a broken off handle.  It was precisely that broken handle that Fr. Marchi had had since 1852, when he first went to Vicarello. That handle was kept in a display case in the Museum, and Fr. Tongiorgi found that it fit perfectly, and thus was part of that treasure.  He then requested the name of the stranger bringing the artifacts and  it soon came to be discovered that he was one of Vicarello’s workers in 1851-1852. Then Fr. Tongiorgi asked for some time in which to prepare an answer and immediately took himself to Fr. General Pietro Beckx, who in turn had recourse to S. Padre Pius IX.  The latter, hearing all the facts well, replied that the theft was so clear, that we with all rights could agree the guilty party in court. However, he continued, that wretch who would certainly be sentenced to jail for life, is the father of a large family. We concern ourselves with more than just him, but also his wife and children. Take all the objects, and I will pay the 100,000 lire: then one half of those remain at the Kircher, the other half with go to the Vatican Museum. And so it was done. “

Coloni himself writes (p. 43):

“The history of Vicarello’s vases is not over, because, on July 25th 1948, L’Osservatore Romano gave the sad news that – three days before – the gold jars had disappeared from the window in the room of the bronzes of the Vatican Etruscan Museum where they were kept and for all the work that has been done by the Vatican State police and
of the Italian State had not been recovered. I fear that they have been melted down: however it will not be bad that they are kept in mind if, on a happy day, they should reappear. We have luckily the photographs.”

Coloni then goes on to describe tracking down other vases that came out of the deposit and were illegally sold to other buyers, ending up in Cleveland, BM, V&A etc…

Fernique 1878 :

“In the peperino sarcophagi some aes rude were recovered, ten of them also containing toilet articles…”

“In the second trench, at a depth of 250 cm, there is a layer composed of amphorae debris, bricks and calcareous stones, below which was a layer of peperino blocks regularly cut, but which were not joined with cement, and formed, to a large extent, a kind of pavement, and nowhere have we found two superimposed layers: these blocks of peperino covered terracottas, many of which were intact. It appeared, therefore, that they had been covered with some care, and the workmen were surprised to find a layer of virgin soil about 50 centimeters thick, below which there were still many objects of the same nature and two pieces of aes rude. The ground had been stirred in antiquity and it was necessary to go farther, for at a depth of nearly 6 meters there were found a few ex-voto objects and a small Greek coin, badly preserved. It is impossible to see the trace of a legend.  The obverse had a bearded head of Jupiter, laureate (?), facing right; on the reverse a prancing horse turned to the right; it is undoubtedly a coin of Campania or Apulia.”

This could be a Syracusan coin of the time of Timoleon and the Third Democracy, circa 339/8-334 BCE, BUT that seems unlikely as I doubt a ~27mm diameter Greek bronze would be described as small.  So, ding ding ding, I think we have an ID it really has to be a coin of ARPI (HN Italy 644, ~17mm)–Fernique had good instincts with the Apulia claim.

But now lets meditate on the fact that this was UNDER the layer with aes rude.  This puts aes rude in use after the period in which this type was struck, ~325-275 BCE.   It also gives a terminus post quem for all those terracotta votives!

“The third trench was shallower than the other two; we met virgin soil only 4 meters down. It was there that I found, six or seven hundred intact objects, besides a great quantity of debris. These terracottas were contained in a kind of conduit dug in virgin soil and filled with topsoil. The channel was 40cm wide by 50cm deep, and did not have a regular direction. The workmen assured me that they had found it on this site during the first excavations, between the second and third trenches. At 60cm below this duct, a larger one was discovered, which crossed it almost at right angles. We could verify that it sank under the ground up to a distance of 4 meters. Thus, in this trench, the terracotta formed only one bed and were for the most part contained in a kind of conduit. In this place we have discovered about ten pieces of aes rude of assorted sizes.”

Here I like the importance of the work staff and how their local knowledge and expertise is acknowledged.

“A chemical analysis of the pieces of aes rude was conducted by a professor of chemistry at the University of Rome. It was found that two pieces of aes rude contained no trace of lead and that the alloy consisted only of copper and tin. However, in previous analyzes of aes rude from Vicarello, it had been noticed that the oldest fragments did not contain lead”

This is one for the best diagrams of casting I’ve seen.

From:

Jin, Cao. “The Chinese Way of Minting: Comparative Perspectives on Coin Production before Mechanisation”. In Southwest China in a Regional and Global Perspective (c.1600-1911), (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2018), 184–223. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004353718_008

This story is included here as it may amuse some fellow numismatists.

Like the good numismatist I am I love shiny things, especially silver shiny things.  I don’t collect coins BUT I do let myself buy silver plate serving dishes for my holiday table.  My favorite are ones that look Victorian (like my house), but hide early oven safe super strong Pyrex; they usually cost about 20 bucks at the antiques malls and are highly functional.   I blame my grandmother for giving me some delightfully silly silver plate water goblets she got for her wedding in the fifties when she was divorcing my grandfather in my early teen years.   I now serve my kiddos and their friends ‘decoys’ in these goblets.  [Decoy is our family name for any drink with a garnish and ice cubes you serve to kids when adults are having adult beverages.]

Anyway, I wanted all my silver plate be extra shiny for the big feast day and I’m avoidant of the time and work of traditional polishing in volume.  So, of course I start my biggest stock pot boiling with a mixture of baking soda and strips of aluminum foil and plan on dunking each piece.  However, this year I have acquired an extra big dish and I’m rushing through the utensils and I start dripping water on the stove.

It’s a gas range so no big deal, I think.  WRONG.  It has a hard wired burner igniters.  Baking soda is a salt and thus conductive of electricity.   It closes the circuit.  All the circuits on all the burners!  Which now won’t stop sparking!  We can’t cut the power because our oven is on the same circuit breaker and that would mean no turkey (a 28 pound bird this year!).  The stove is now unusable and we are expecting 24 loved ones to arrive for dinner shortly.

My beloved calls in a kindly neighbor and with only minimal electrocution of their fingers they together manage to disassemble the built in countertop stove, cut the power there, reassemble, and then move to manual lighting of the burners.

Next year I plan to polish the silver plate at least a day ahead and be a little more careful.    Maybe I’ll even try just doing in the bath tub and pour in kettlefuls of boiling water.  I’ll let you know.