The Plevna hoard was found by a Bulgarian man digging in his field in December 1922. The 4,033 silver coins were contained in an ‘earthenware vessel’. The earliest identifiable coin is from the reign of Domitian, the latest is of Hostilian, and the vast majority were from the reign of Trajan Decius, under whom Hostilian was Caesar. Mattingly and Salisbury (who worked on this hoard) supposed that it might represent a military chest, i.e. a hoard of coins which moved with the army as the soldiers’ payment. It is equally possible, however, that its burial has the same cause as Dorchester. These two hoards are of comparable size, composition and time, but geographically very distinct.

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