Provincial silver is often found in
hoards, particularly and especially Syrian tetradrachms. Never travel without them.
Provincial bronze, while it could travel surprisingly far in individual cases, tended to stay near where it was minted, and circulated at a much higher velocity through the local economy, and, consequently, was subject to much more wear and tear in the marketplace. Silver seems always to have been the preferred form for storing wealth in the East; by the time bronze could be seen as being a store of value in and of itself,
provincial coinage
had pretty much ceased. Sure, concentrations of
provincial bronze coins can be found in archeological sites, coins lost in the marketplace, etc., but that is not what I think of as a
hoard. Also, I think traipsing around the countryside with a metal detector is not a
very good idea in
Turkey, the
Levant, etc., so many
provincials were found just lying on the ground. I may be distorting the actual situation, of course, but I think the above is more or less the case.
Noah, I think
provincials have pretty much come out of the closet, and can be found in the front of the store (more so all the time). As for Jochen, he can outbid me, but can he outrun me?
Regards, George Spradling