Hobbyist Metal Detector Treasure finds in WalesDerek Everleigh, a 79 year old metal detecting hobbyist has made treasure finds of almost 6000 coins in a farmers field in Sully, near Cardiff, the capitol city of Wales. The treasure finds included two pots containing 5913 Roman copper alloy coins from the early fourth century. Mr. Everleigh came across the coins when his metal detector went off while walking through a field of sheep. “I had a signal first and when it was deep I thought I better dig it – and that was it.” He said Mr. Everleigh reported the find and it was the job of Cardiff Coroner, Ms. Mary Hassell to determine if he is to be compensated for his find. She declared the coins as treasure finds and set up a committee to determine their value. National Wales museum numismatist Edward Besly has examined the coins and determined that most of them were made during the 3rd and 4th century during the Roman occupation of England. At that time the Romans made coins in London, Trier and in France at Lyon. Some of the coins though were from Roman outposts in Croatia and Syria. Mr Besly believes the coins were probably buried by a local landowner to protect them from being looted. At that time, even when the Romans wihdrew, there was stiil the threat of Irish pirates, who raided and looted all around Cardiff. Besly also remarked about the coins, “It was quite an enterprise to clean nearly 6,000 coins just to get the mud off them,”. Besly said the museum hoped to eventually buy the coins and show them to the public. “This is certainly exceptional in Welsh terms. “We have to find the money to reward the landowner and the finder". Mr Everleigh is not letting his treasure finds go to his head though, He remarked “All I found before was thrupenny bits and bits of metal". “I have had to keep it quiet all these months". But he also showed hope for the future when he said, “Someone told me that when you find one hoard you find two.” It's quite possible he is right. There was probably many more land owners who buried their coins in the fourth century to protect it from theives. Lost gold found in Israeli Car Park
Hundreds of Gold Coins were Uncovered during and archeological dig by the Israel Antiquities Authority. The hoard represents possibly the largest coin discovery ever made in the city of Jerusalem. The discovery was made at the ‘Giv‘ati Car Park’ in the City of David, in the Walls Around Jerusalem National Park.The treasure finds consisted of more than 250 gold coins which were estimated to be more than 1300 years old. The coins are believed to be "Chanukah" money. The coins were found by Nadine Ross,who volunteered to help with the dig for one month. The coins all carry the portrait of the Roman emperor Heraclius, who ruled the empire between 610 and 641. One side of the coins shows Heraclius wearing a uniform and holding a cross in his right hand. The obverse features the sign of the cross. Obvious signs that these are coins from the Byzantine or Holy Roman empire era. According to archaeological records, these coins were made between 610 and 613 AD. This is not the first time the Israel Antiquities Authority has dug up gold. During the excavation of a building that dates to about the seventh century, A large cache of 264 coins, all made of gold, was discovered among the ruins of the building. Speaking about the car park hoard, Dr. Doron Ben-Ami and Yana Tchekhanovets, directors of the excavation at the site on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority said, “Since no pottery vessel was discovered adjacent to the hoard, we can assume that it was concealed inside a hidden niche in one of the walls of the building. It seems that with its collapse, the coins piled up there among the building debris”. No one knows at this point why the coins were in this particular building. The archeologists will be attempting to discover why the coins were abandoned there. Were they hidden during the Persian invasion of Jerusalem in 614 AD ? Archeologists will attempt to answer this question as well as who the coins might have belonged to. Searcher with Metal Detector finds Celtic Gold in Britain
January 2009A hobbyist with a metal detector has made the largest treasure finds of prehistoric gold coins in Britain. The discovery of 824 gold staters was made in a field near Wickham Market in Suffolk. The coins are solid gold staters made between 40BC and AD 15, weighing about five grams each. They were found inside an inconspicuous clay pot. The theory is, the coins were buried there by a wealthy individual to protect them from attacking tribes or some other disaster.There is also a possibility that this hoard could have been a religious offering. The Icenian tribe thought to have been in possession of the coins had buried silver and gols treasure in the past. A discovery of 30 kg of silver and gold was made before in Snettisham, Norfolk which was thought to be the site of an important Icenic religious center. “The [new] hoard is absolutely unique,” said Ian Leins, the British Museum’s curator of Iron Age coins. “It is the largest hoard of British Iron Age gold coins to be studied in its entirety.” Previously the most substantial Iron Age gold coin hoard found in Britain was unearthed in 1849 when between 800 and 2,000 gold staters were dug up by a farm hand in a field near Milton Keynes. Archaeologists from Suffolk County Council have kept the discovery under wraps for months while they made further excavations. Click here to return from treasure finds to the home page |
