UK: While digging in backyard man unearths hoard of 20,000 Roman coins.

BBC On-Line ^ | Thursday, 11 March, 2004 | staff writer

[yankeedame]

Last Updated: Thursday, 11 March, 2004, 11:45 GMT

Roman treasure found in pond dig

The coins are thought to date from the 4th century

A man unearthed a priceless hoard of 20,000 Roman coins as he dug a new fishpond in his back garden. Experts say the money may date from the 4th Century and could be the biggest find of its kind in Britain.

The coins were crammed into a ceramic pot which broke up as it was dug out of the ground at Thornbury, Gloucestershire.

Now a coroner must decide if Ken Allen, who made the discovery, can keep the treasure.

Gail Boyle, from Bristol Museum, said: "This is the most amazing find of treasure to come out of this area for 30 years."

Mr Allen said: "It was a great surprise and at first I didn't realise what we had found.

"The pot was perfectly upright, I can't believe that this discovery was only 20ft from our house."

"I can't believe that this discovery was only 20ft from our house,"- Ken Allen

Kurt Adams, the Finds Liaison Officer for Gloucestershire and Avon, said: "The coins identified so far can be attributed to Constantine the Great.

"The mint marks - a letter or symbol used to indicate the mint which produced the coin - suggest Trier, Germany and Constantinople as possible places of origin."

Treasure trove

The coins are in the care of Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery where they are being cleaned in a special laboratory.

They will then be taken to the British Museum in London for further examination.

A spokeswoman for Bristol Coroner's Court said that even though the coins were found on Mr Allen's property they could still be ruled as being property of the state.

"What determines this is if the coins were buried there intentionally or lost.

"It is possible somebody put them there and forgot about them, or never intended for them to be found.

"The coroner can rule whether they are the finder's treasure or not."

[SolutionsOnly]

but I've also heard of many cases where treasure finders have legal claim to thier findings. I'm sure if that weren't the case, not too much treasure would ever be found.

[auggy]

"They will then be taken to the British Museum in London for further examination."

Like hell they will.

If, I found them on my property, and I dug them up, they are my property.

Now, for a few billion pounds they could go to London.

[rogers21774]

Looks like a pile of dirt and gravel to me. Hey! I think I may have dug up tons of ancient Roman coinage over the years and simply discarded them because my untrained eye thought they were a bunch of rocks. Damn!

[aShepard]

When I wanted to build a house on undeveloped pristine riverside land a few years ago, before I was allowed to have a bulldozer in to dig the foundation, I had to have the site fully inspected by the Coastal Resources Management counsil, the Army Corp of Engineers, the Nature Conservacy, the Indian Artifact Society - just about everybody but the mastodon society. What a pain in the @ss

[bobo1]

"It would have taken him a long time for a little gain"

Might be the case, but I would rather wait a long time than to give it away to those that would steal it outright.

It is the principle of the thing with me. The money issue is secondary.

Blessings, Bobo

[Yo-Yo]

Now a coroner must decide if Ken Allen, who made the discovery, can keep the treasure.

Paging Dr. Quincy, please call Dr. Asten.

[Gorzaloon]

Might be the case, but I would rather wait a long time than to give it away to those that would steal it outright.

You are right. Were I to find artifacts, etc. while digging in my backyard, even if they were valueless, I would not make public announcments to The Authorities about them. Why, they had been in the family for GENERATIONS! Even before we brought them over with us on the Mayflower!

[rface]

Roman Coin ping

[Stewart_B]

While it is possible these coins are the rare ones, I know I have seen coins like this in the local coin shop and they are probably far from "priceless". I bought several of them for very cheap. (not 20,000, however)

We have some old Roman coins my brother bought from a coin dealer on the Internet.
They were not very expensive, I think he got 30 assorted coins for around $64.00.
What is cool about them is that even though they are not precious metal they actually are a part of history that you can own.
A few of the coins we have are from the time of Constantine. They have his inscription on one side and Romulus and Remus nursing from a wolf on the other.
One of the reasons that Roman coins are found buried like they were in this article is that Roman soldiers sometimes pooled there money together before a battle and buried it. Whoever was left alive after the battle could split the money.
Many times no one lived through the battle so the money stayed hid.

[Heyworth]

Don't be so sure. Britain enacted a Treasure Law in 1996. They have to go through some formalities (this inquest), and the national museums get first refusal to buy them at market value, but the guy will end up with the treasure. Metal detecting and treasure hunting is a big hobby in Britain, and amazing finds are showing up regularly. They've realized that if they don't insure people will get to keep the treasure legally, they'll just stop reporting their finds.

[bobo1]

We are kindred spirits.

Blessings, Bobo

[weegee]

If they took the coins they'd take the pottery too, you'd have the hole though.

He may not even have that if the archeologists get the "right" to dig on his property.

[glock rocks]

Holy cow. This stash would pay for a fleet of new Minelabs, and a couple hundred backup Whites and Garretts!

[VRWC_minion]

How do we know it was only 1 bucket ?

[weegee]

Maybe they should give the coins to Ireland...

[Guillermo]

Maybe he found 50,000 coins and, uh, said he found 20,000....

[bobo1]

Hi weegee,

Perhaps the leprachauns can multiply the bounty. Don't really know, cuz I do not get involved in such things.

I watch intently at the situation in Ireland. I pray for peace.

Blessings, Bobo

[Peter J. Huss]

Lesson: If you find coins, gold or a bag of money next to the road, keep ya mouth shut.

[JOAT]

He never did know how the Feds found out he had it. They showed up at his house about a week after he found it.

Evidently he told at least one person...Nothing is truly secret if you tell anyone else!

[dd5339]

Dang! Why doesn't something like this happen to me? If I go dig in the back yard all I ever excavate is the remains of yesterday's Iam's that the dogs have left me!

Semper Fi