Treasure hunters find Britain’s largest ancient coin hoard after discovering 69,347 Roman and Celtic pieces buried 3ft under a hedge in Jersey
- Reg Mead and Richard Miles spent 30 years searching a field based on Jersey
- Their find of gold and silver coins has been dated to around the first century BC
- Trumps the previous find of 54,951 Iron Age coins made in Wiltshire in 1978
Treasure hunters have set a record for the largest coin hoard discovered in the British Isles after unearthing 69,347 Roman and Celtic coins that were buried three feet beneath a hedge in Jersey, Channel Isles.
Metal detectorists Reg Mead and Richard Miles spent 30 years searching the field for the £10million treasure after a woman described seeing what looked like silver buttons in the area.
Their find – made in 2012 – trumps the previous record holding discovery of 54,951 Iron Age coins unearthed in Wiltshire in 1978.
Britain’s largest coin hoard of gold and silver pieces was found under a hedge on Jersey in the Channel Islands
Reg Mead and Richard Miles found the coins sealed inside a slab of clay after searching the area for 30 years. Pictured above is curator Neil Mahrer inspecting the discovery
The coins were found by metal detectorists encased in clay. It is believed that they were hidden in the field around 50BC
Some of the silver and gold relics from the Guinness Record setting discovery, dated to around 50BC, will go on display at La Hougue Bie Museum on the island.
‘We are not surprised at this achievement and are delighted that such an impressive archaeological item was discovered, examined and displayed in Jersey,’ said curator of archaeology at Jersey Heritage Olga Finch.
‘Once again, it puts our Island in the spotlight of international research of Iron Age coinage and demonstrates the world class heritage that Jersey has to offer.’
Mr Miles said he and Mr Mead had been involved in the process the whole way through and described receiving the Guinness World Record certificates as ‘lovely’.
The coins were found to have been entombed in a mound of clay weighing three quarters of a ton and measuring 55 x 31 x 8 inches.
Conservator for the Jersey Heritage Museum Neil Mahrer begins to carefully dig the silver and gold treasures out of the clay
There were 69,347 coins inside the large clay tablet, that weighed three quarters of a tonne
Pictured above are some of the coins after they were restored. The find was made in 2012
They were declared a ‘treasure’ under the Treasure Act 1996, which means they officially belong to the Queen, although the finders are entitled to a reward.
Mr Mead has said that the least valuable coins in the hoard are likely to be worth £100 each, suggesting a valuation of several million pounds, without taking into account the precious jewellery also found in it.
However, there has been discussion over whether the price would come down because so many coins had been found, reducing their rarity.
The previous largest coin hoard from Wiltshire was discovered in 1978 at the former Roman town of Cunetio near to Mildenhall.
The largest hoard of coins ever found in the world was in Brussels in 1908 with 150,000 silver medieval pennies from the 13th Century uncovered.
The coins were carefully extracted after they were detected three feet beneath a hedge
The block of coins is pictured being lifted out of the ground. Metal detectorist Reg Mead is pictured left wearing the black shirt
Metal detectors Reg Mead, left, and Richard Miles, right, made the discovery. They are pictured in the coins hiding place
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