The exact composition of the Crete hoard is unknown, as it was taken to Athens for sale and it is unknown how many were sold before Mr. Earle Fox purchased the remaining 31 base metal coins and subsequently bequeathed them to G. C. Haines, who in turn left them to the Barber Institute. It is Haines who wrote about the hoard from his discussions with Earle Fox about the hoard, from this we learn that the known part of the hoard is exclusively base metal, begins with coins of Maximinus Thrax and ends with a coin from the middle of the reign of Licinius, dated to 313-4. As may be expected of a hoard found on an important island in the middle of the Mediterranean, the coins are from a variety of mints across the Mediterranean, but the mint of Rome is very conspicuous by its absence. As the Mardin hoard beautifully demonstrates the continued use of bronze coins in the economy long after their original striking, so does the Crete Hoard (or what we know of it) demonstrate that the monetary reforms of Diocletian did not fully remove the old coins from circulation.

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