Posted on 07/03/2012 3:04:55 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
those metal detecTwo men using metal detectors discover hoard of 50,000 Iron Age Celtic coins
Great news for all you hopeful amateur metal detectorists: Two men, who'd been searching the same field for nearly 30 years, have stumbled upon the largest hoard of Iron Age coins ever discovered in northern Europe. Inspired by legends that a local farmer once discovered silver coins on his land, the men unearthed the congealed chunk of 50,000 silver and gold coins after following a trail of pieces — that turned out not to be related to the cache.
Reg Mead and Richard Miles found the clump inside a massive block of soil in a field in Jersey, U.K., and it's thought that the coins were from Armorica, modern Brittany, and Normandy. The coins, which are in surprisingly good condition, are thought to have been buried at a time when Caesar was campaigning through Gaul. The owner likely buried the coins in an effort to hide them — never to be seen again, until now.
Writing in The Guardian, Maev Kennedy had this to add:
Most of the Jersey coins are still locked inside the soil block, which weighs three quarters of a ton and has been removed in one piece from the ground and taken to a safe place.
Excavation continues in the field to make sure the whole story has been revealed. The exact location has not been disclosed, and the island's environment minister, Rob Duhamel, said it would get official protection to keep it safe from looters. "It is a very exciting piece of news and perhaps harks back to our cultural heritage in terms of finance. It was found under a hedge so perhaps this is an early example of hedge fund trading."
De Jersey said the find was exceptional, "certainly the largest hoard of Iron Age coins ever found, not just in Jersey but the whole of the Celtic coin-using world … it is difficult to come out with a figure much below 50,000 coins given the volume of the block."
He believes there may also be Iron Age jewellery in the soil block, as in other Jersey hoards.
The coins, which are estimated to be worth about £10m ($15.8m), may go on display in the island's main museum should the land owners get their way. But exactly who owns the coins will likely take months to determine. Hmmm, so much for finder's keepers.
In the USA things are still somewhat a free for all. We are not necessarily under penalty of law to reveal anything found on private property.
In the UK they are bound by law to reveal any coin find over 15 in one hole, silver coins, and any gold items. I don’t know all the particulars. In the US private property is generally finders keepers unless you are trespassing, and technically government property is prohibited, although many city parks and beaches are free game for us.
Aha! I KNEW they’d turn up eventually. I was wondering where I’d left those.
;-)
“It was found under a hedge so perhaps this is an early example of hedge fund trading.”
Should've given the guy SOMETHING.
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Thanks, and LOL! Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. |
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I invested in a brand new Whites GMT Goldmaster this spring, its a 48khz specialty detector for gold detecting in Alaska. it wasn’t cheap, also picked up a Garret Pro pointer, using the two I can zero in searching for grain sized gold flakes and nuggets.
I have yet to use it but I have several places that look very promising. I joined some forums and was amazed at the amount of interest in metal detecting but for the most part in the lower 48 its searching more for coins and relics.
There was an idiotic attempt to make a reality TV series, its failed miserably fortunately.
By “over there” do you mean the UK in particular or Europe in general?
I have no current experience, but I do know that in the 80’s in France and Italy, they were shutting down farms whenever anything was found.
Thats nothing, in Australia you will get into deep dingo poodoo if you find a meteorite and keep it for yourself.
Or worse yet try to take it out of the territory.
My first rule which still stands when I got into MD, I post on several MD forums, I never tell of my discoveries, I actually just say I have not used my GMT. Too many people are way too keen on knowing locations, doesn’t matter if its gold, coins, civil war relics or underground caches.
Sadly thats the downturn of a depressed society, I have to carry concealed when I travel with my MD, its a very hot commodity for thieves.
I believe its the UK. I don’t know which countries adopted the current treasure trove laws.
Some pressure to adopt this treasure trove law must have been happening in the 80’s. I think that they were having a real problem with people smuggling artifacts out of the country. People would hunt for treasures in the middle of the night (night-hawking). There were several instances of someone attempting to keep and smuggle Celtic gold coins.
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