A ‘Mind-Blowing’ $6 Million Coin Hoard Discovered by Treasure Hunters Will Be Unveiled at the British Museum

A pair of metal detectorists
made the discovery of a lifetime when they unearthed a hoard of
ancient coins worth around $6 million in a field in Somerset, in
the West of England. The historic find, believed to be one of the
biggest ever treasure troves uncovered in the UK, is due to be
unveiled at the British Museum tomorrow.

Treasure hunters Adam Staples
and Lisa Grace unearthed the 2,571 Anglo-Saxon and Norman coins in January when
they were searching farmland with their trusty metal
detectors. In an interview with Treasure Hunting
Magazine, the couple described the hoard as “amazing” and
“absolutely mind-blowing.” They reported their find to the
authorities as required by UK law, and the coins were soon sent to
the British Museum for evaluation.

The British Museum has been
assessing the find for the past seven months, and is due to reveal
more information about the coins to the public on Wednesday, August
28. A spokesperson for the institution confirmed to the Daily Mail that the “large hoard” was
handed over as possible treasure, and that it appears to be “an
important discovery.” 

Under the UK’s 1996 Treasure
Act, if a find is officially declared treasure, it must first be
offered for sale to a museum at a price set by the British Museum’s
Treasure Valuation Committee. If no museum can raise the money to
acquire the coins, they can then be offered for sale at auction.
The owner of the land where the coins were found is entitled to
half of the proceeds. The metal detectorists are keeping
the exact location of their discovery under wraps. 

A coin expert at the
London auctioneers Dix Noonan
Webb has valued the coins at
around £5 million ($6 million). They include mint-condition silver
King Harold II pennies, coins from the reign of William the
Conqueror, which could be worth as much as £5,000 ($6,000) each, as
well as pieces minted by previously-unknown moneyers.

The King Harold II coins are
particularly rare due to his short reign. The last Anglo-Saxon king
was on the throne for just nine months before he died during the
Battle of Hastings in 1066. The expert
said that the hoard may
prove too pricey for museums, which might have to launch an appeal
for sponsors to raise funds to acquire them.

The coins would have belonged to
a wealthy person who probably buried them for safekeeping at some
point after the Norman Invasion of 1066 and probably before 1072.

The biggest collection of buried
treasure ever discovered in the UK was the Staffordshire Hoard of
Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork, but this latest find could
worth $1 million more, and have as great or even more historic
value. 

The post A ‘Mind-Blowing’ $6 Million Coin Hoard Discovered
by Treasure Hunters Will Be Unveiled at the British Museum
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