Britain’s biggest-ever hoard of Celtic gold coins worth £800,000 unearthed by birdwatcher
BRITAIN’S biggest-ever hoard of Celtic gold coins, worth £800,000, was unearthed by a birdwatcher. He saw a glint in a ploughed field while watching a buzzard, rubbed off the mud and found it was a 2,000-year-old gold “stater”. Spotting a second one 2ft away, he fetched his metal detector and hours later had uncovered 1,300 […]
BRITAIN’S biggest-ever hoard of Celtic gold coins, worth £800,000, was unearthed by a birdwatcher.
He saw a glint in a ploughed field while watching a buzzard, rubbed off the mud and found it was a 2,000-year-old gold “stater”.
Spotting a second one 2ft away, he fetched his metal detector and hours later had uncovered 1,300 coins dating from 40-50AD at the secret location in east England. Each one is worth up to £650.
It comfortably surpasses the previous record Celtic hoard of 850 coins found at Wickham Market, Suffolk, by another detectorist in 2008.
The unnamed finder, a groundsman in his 50s, told Treasure Hunter magazine how he dug down 18ins and found the rim of a Roman urn.
“Gently lifting it up, a cascade of coins fell out — a vision which will remain with me for the rest of my life,” he said.
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A coroner will now decide if he has to offer the hoard to a museum at a set price, or if he can keep it. Proceeds must be shared with the field owner.
During the middle of the first century the Celtic warrior Boudicca was at war with the occupying Roman forces.
It is possible that the coins may have been a ‘deposit’ from her war chest for her eastern campaigns.
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