'I must now entertain you with a new curiosity I have just met with. Icklingham being so well stored with Roman coins, & being so near a neighbour, I began to think Elden [Elveden] might have been of more importance than we think for. I enquired amongst my parishioners whether none of them had found coins. They stared at me as if they thought I had been out of my senses, upon which I showed them what it meant by pulling some out of my pocket. Lord, Sir, says my day-man who used to work for me, I have found three such in Elden this year, one of which is a white one. This declaration made me hurry him home immediately in quest of them, which he did, & brought me two, one of which was a Claudius Gothicus—the reverse ÆQUITAS : AUG. ; the other was a Roman Denarius, & I find by Spanheim a very curious coin, though this is not inserted in his work, yet he seems, I think, to refer to it. I imagine it to have the head of the consul Pappus, who prescribed the manner of chusing the vestal virgins. The head is covered with a goat's skin, which descends to the lower part of the neck, & the horns are placed exactly over the head. Just at the back of the head is the tabella ; the letters are rased, though in Spanheim's they are preserved, & are in this form — [PAPI arranged in a square] PAPI. On the reverse is, I think, the form of the initiation of a vestal. The vestal is in the dress of her order ; before her on the ground seems to be something of an orbicular form, out of which arises what may, I think, very easily be supposed a flame, since it is curled ; & as the Temple of Vesta was of an orbicular form I don't see why this may not reasonably be supposed to be as proper a representation of the temple & the sacred fire as the size of a Denarius would admit of. The vestal carries something before her in her vest. She has just gone through the first ceremony of the caption, &, I suppose, is proceeding (having shaved her head), to hang her hair upon a branch of the Lotos or Lote tree, where some of it seems to hang already. Behind her is something I don't know what to make of ; but this is the exact shape of it. I hope you will excuse my impertinence in communicating to you these conjectures, but as I look upon the coin as a very singular one, & it was found at Elden, I cannot help being very particular, & setting a great value upon it ; & I the rather take this liberty with you because you have convinced me often that you will make me proper allowances for ignorance & misinformation, & kindly deal out instruction to me.'
(Lukis 1882-1887, vol. 1 p. 479-81)
