More About the Silver Treasury of Pompeii

Earlier this week, we mentioned that there was a house in the city of Pompeii that fell victim to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that was filled with silver. In fact, there was so much silver there that those who studied the remains of Pompeii refer to this house as the Silver Treasury.

To this day, scholars are still studying and puzzling over the large amount of silver found in this home. Today's experts find themselves at odds with the conclusions drawn by the experts of the 20th century, including one Roman silverware specialist who wrote a book about the silver treasure found in the house thought to belong to Menander, a Roman playwright.

This book set out to explain and elaborate on the following topics: how the silver treasure was discovered, to go over the silver coins and silver jewelry that were found and to talk about a very special silver plate that was among the silver objects, its uses and what this silver plate could tell the contemporary world about the owner and inhabitants of the house. Apparently the book, which was written in the 1930s, spends a lot of time going over the details of this silver plate and it includes line drawings of the silver plate.

The book also contains many musings about the silver dining service that was also found as part of the silver treasury.  Based on what scholars know about dining in the ancient Roman world, there are questions about the number of cups the found and how they might have been used.

Obviously there is a lot of information to be gained from examining the family silver! But of course you know what else can be gained from the family silver? Why, there is instant cash for silver to be gained.

While it is nice to leave something behind to keep future generations guessing, wouldn't you just rather sell silver? Menander did not really intend to leave all of that silver behind. He fell prey to a natural disaster. Who is to say that Menander himself was not thinking about ways to sell his silver and reap the benefits.

The world may never know what this man and his family planned to do with their silver, but you can certainly make a plan for yours. Sell silver to a silver buyer and you'll get money for silver that you can use right away.