Museum: Rare coin may be Roman brothel token

[January 27, 2012]  LONDON (AP) -- The Museum of London is displaying a coin found by the River Thames that may have been used nearly 2,000 years ago as a "brothel token" in Roman London.

The bronze coin shows a man and woman in an intimate embrace.

Senior curator Caroline McDonald said Thursday it is impossible to determine precisely what the coin was used for.

She says it is probable brothels existed in London when the coin was in circulation after the Roman invasion of Britain in the 1st Century A.D.

Experts believe the coin was concealed by mud along the river banks for some 2,000 years before it was discovered recently by a man with a metal detector looking for objects near Putney Bridge.

[Associated Press]

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