Incredible Metal Detecting Discoveries: True Stories of Amazing Treasures Found by Everyday People (8 page)
Authors: Mark D Smith
Image courtesy of portableantiquities
Jethro Carpenter and Mark Gilmour along with Richard
Henry from the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
What Was It
Worth?
At
the time of this writing, the value of this hoard was still being
investigated.
When
Was the Hoard Discovered?
June 18
th
2011
Where
Was the Hoard Discovered?
On a farm in Bredon Hill Worcestershire, England
Where
Is It Now?
At the time of this writing, the Worcester City Art
Gallery & Museum was trying to purchase the hoard.
That is not a typo. The
word hoards in this particular find is supposed to be plural, and
would you believe that both of these hoards were found by the same
person 14 years apart?
Some people believe that locating a huge hoard of coins
is a once in a lifetime achievement. Brian Miller has proved them
otherwise by locating both of these incredible hoards with a metal
detector. While both hoards are quite spectacular, the second hoard
held an ancient clue that would have historians scratching their
heads in wonder.
Brian brought all of the coins to the Ashmolean Museum
fused in a giant ball still in the original container. Brian knew he
had another fantastic find on his hands, but he had no idea what was
hiding inside that old ball of Roman coins.
The British Museum was in charge of cleaning the coins,
and in February of 2004 they found one coin inside the hoard that
would change history. On the face of this mysterious coin was an
unknown emperor.
A coin just like this one was found in France 100 years
earlier, but experts claimed the coin was a hoax because there was no
record of this mysterious emperor. This one coin proved that this
emperor did indeed exist. His name was Domitianus, and he only ruled
the land for a few days.
His short reign over the Roman empire proved that
control changed hands pretty quickly. This coin has been called the
single most significant coin find in all of Britain history. Just
think about that for a second. This single most important historical
coin find in Britain was found using a metal detector!
What
Was Found
?
Hoard # 1 consisted of 4145 Roman coins.
Hoard # 2 consisted of 4957 Roman coins.
Image courtesy of Portable Antiquities Scheme from
London, England
When
Was the Hoard Discovered?
Hoard # 1 was discovered in August 1989.
Hoard # 2 was discovered 14 years later in 2003.
Where
Was the Hoard Discovered?
Both hoards were discovered in close proximity to each
other. They were only 100 feet or 30 meters apart. They were both
found on farmland in Chalgrove, England.
Who
Found It?
The first hoard was found by a father and son metal
detecting team, Brian and Ian Miller. The second hoard was found by
Brian Miller.
Yet another instance where a huge hoard was found by
someone who just started metal detecting. Nic Davies had only been
metal detecting for about a month, and this hoard was his first find.
Could this have been beginner's luck?
Nic did make one huge mistake though. He found the hoard
while trespassing on private land. He did not have permission to
metal detect and as a result, there is a really good chance he will
not receive any monetary reward for this great find.
The current treasure laws in Britain state that should a
hoard be classified as treasure, a reward will be paid to the
landowner and the person responsible for finding the hoard as long as
the person searching was not doing so without permission.
Always get permission before you hunt private property,
and make sure you have permission in writing!
What
Was Found
?
9315 bronze Roman coins.
Image courtesy of Portable Antiquities Scheme from
London, England
When
Was the Hoard Discovered?
August 2009
Where
Was the Hoard Discovered?
Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England
Who
Found It?
Nic Davies.
Where
Is It Now?
The British Museum is in charge of cleaning the coins,
but the Shropshire County Museum is trying to acquire the hoard.
The father and son team who found this hoard supposedly
obtained permission to hunt the ancient monastic site of Derrynaflan,
but they did not have permission to dig on the land. The area was
protected under the National Monuments Act of 1930. This act
protected the land and prohibited any type of digging.
When the father and son team made their incredible find,
they kept it hidden for three weeks. The find was deemed illegal and
the father and son team fought in court for over 7 years. They
claimed their find was worth £5,000,000 or $8,377,500. Because
they did not have any proof that they had permission to dig, they
were never able to legally claim the find. OUCH! As a result of the
claim lasting 7 years, the Irish laws of treasure trove were changed.
Once again, always get permission in writing before your
dig on private property, and never attempt to dig on any type of
national monument!
What
Was Found
?
A beautiful chalice
A silver paten. A paten is a small plate made from
silver or gold.A hoop
A liturgical strainer
A bronze basin
Here are a few items from this awesome find.
Image courtesy of Kglavin
The
chalice from the hoard
Image courtesy of Kglavin
The
paten or silver and gold plate from the hoard
When
Was the Hoard Discovered?
February 17
th
1980
Where
Was the Hoard Discovered?
This hoard was found on an island of pastureland off the
coast of Ireland near Killenaule, South Tipperary.
Who
Found It?
Michael Webb and his son.
Where
Is It Now?
The National Museum of Ireland
Not all great treasures are found by first timer
rookies, and this hoard is the perfect example. Reg Mead and Richard
Miles were two lucky ones in this story. The two treasure hunters
researched an area they thought would be perfect for metal detecting.
Upon asking permission to hunt, the land owner told them a very
interesting story.
A few years earlier while plowing the field, the land
owner came across an earthenware pot filled with silver coins. His
plow brought them to the surface and scattered them across the field.
When Reg and Richard heard this story, their eyes grew wide with
excitement.
The land owner granted two treasure hunters permission
to hunt, but under very strict circumstances. The land owner would
only let the two guys use their metal detectors once a year for about
10-15 hours after the crops had been harvested.
Obviously this didn't give the two eager treasure
hunters much time to locate any amount of treasure, but they did not
let that stop them. It would take them over 30 years to locate this
unbelievable find.
On that fateful day in the summer of 2012, Reg and
Richard eagerly followed a trail of 60 silver coins. That trail would
eventually lead them to one gold coin, but those 61 coins were just
the icing on the cake. They were the tip of the iceberg! They were
nothing compared to what came next!
The next target was big. It was huge. It was massive!
All of these phrases are understatements. The next target was a mass
of coins that weighed an eye popping 1650 pounds or 750 kilograms.
They quickly alerted the authorities who sent out a team of
archeologists to remove the coins.
Here
is what they found!
An estimated 70,000 silver and gold Roman coins and some
jewelry.
If you look closely, you can see two gold torcs in the
giant coin mass.
What Was It
Worth?
