Check out the International Business Times bringing sexy back from way waaaaay back!

Yesterday the International Business Times ran a story by Nicholas Edmondson about a coin found on the bank of the Thames in London thought to be currency used in a Roman brothel back in the Empire days. The bronze coin, called a spinitra, could have been used for something else, like gambling, but judging from the image on the front –a man and woman having sex on a couch; he’s on top and she’s lying down on her front (the closest thing our Pocket Kama Sutra shows is called “The Elephant Posture”– the brothel idea seems a safe bet.

On the back of the coin is the Roman numeral for 14, which experts say could be the price of entry or the cost of the activity shown, which is kind of the same thing. Get it?

“This is the perfect archaelogical object. It’s sexy and provocative in the best sense of the word,” said Caroline McDonald, museum curator. “The lot of a Roman sex slave was not a happy one and objects like this can help the Museum of London provoke debates about issues that are relevant to the modern city and its visitors. Museums should engage with these more grown-up and sometimes less comfortable topics.”

The coin was found on the river bank by a pastry chef named Regis Cursan, who donated it to the Museum of London and who must be crazy because jeepers, how much do you suppose that thing is valued at? Can’t say it was never worth a fuck…that’s probably exactly what it was worth in days gone by.