DetectingWales.com

Courtesy of BBC Online

One of Europe's largest hoards of Iron Age coins has been unearthed in Jersey, according to an expert.

The Roman and Celtic coins, which date from the 1st Century BC, were found by two metal detector enthusiasts.

Dr Philip de Jersey, a former Celtic coin expert at Oxford University, said the haul was "extremely exciting and very significant".

The hoard is likely to be worth millions of pounds with each individual coin worth between £100 and £200.

The exact number of coins found has not been established but archaelogists said the hoard weighed about half a tonne.

'Once in a lifetime'
 
The exact location of the hoard has not been revealed by the authorities.

It was found by Reg Mead and Richard Miles in a field in the east of Jersey.

They had been searching for more than 30 years after hearing rumours that a farmer had discovered silver coins while working on his land.

Mr Mead and Mr Miles worked with experts from Jersey Heritage to slowly unearth the treasure.

A large mound of clay containing the coins has now been taken to the Jersey archive centre to be examined.

It is the first hoard of coins found in the island for more than 60 years.

Several hoards of Celtic coins have been found in Jersey before but the largest was in 1935 at La Marquanderie when more than 11,000 were discovered.

Dr de Jersey said it would take months for archaelogists to find out the full value of the haul.

He said: "It is extremely exciting and very significant. It will add a huge amount of new information, not just about the coins themselves but the people who were using them.

"Most archaeologist with an interest in coins spend their lives in libraries writing about coins and looking at pictures of coins.

"For me as an archaeologist, with an interest in coins, to actually go out and excavate one in a field, most of us never get that opportunity. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

The ownership of the coins is unclear. Mr Mead said he had asked the States of Jersey for clarification.

Did you see the detectors that Reg and Richard were using.  ;) :)Jerry.

Jerry you've been in the hobby too long to take any notice or believe machines are a factor when finding hoards ;D If it was we would all be out using 20 year old Whites Spectrums lol
The only machine I could see on BBC looked like a Golden Mask ???

I wonder what the signal sounded like. ::) :o

Val

Thanks Neil nice read always enjoy seen a hoard pop up  i dream more   ;D. lol can wait to find one and sell my chefs white for good .

will the farmer and detectrist get the estamated 10 million pounds for these coins ?

I've just had radio Gloucestershire on the phone they want me to talk on the radio tomorrow about metal detecting and finding hoards. Not a lot I can say really, but I might do it for the PR. Might be a few farmers listening.

If the hoard weighs half a ton, that would be 1102 lb. A denarius weighs about 3.2 g, so a 1000 would weigh 7.054lb. So I make it 156000 coins, which at £200 per coin should be £31m. I think someone must have there figures wrong. ???


http://www.channelonline.tv/channelonline/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=500095 (http://www.channelonline.tv/channelonline/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=500095)

they're probably taking all the soil that comes with it into account as well Steve......looks like theyre being transported insitu

Yes I've seen two weights so far today half a ton and three quarters of a ton. Was that will the clay? must be and is there anything under the coins?
I think that we shall get a much more realistic figure in time.
I've only heard of Silver coins coming up and if they are Denari's and Staters, then the British tribe will be the Durotriges and the continental ones are Armorican.
The average price for any of those 3 is £30, so I think there is a bit of journalistic licence going on there.
Just heard that they were using Bounty Hunters ???

Bounty hunter,  :o i'm sure it will be the new Minelab CTX 3030 by the time it gets to Treasure Hunting magazine next month  :D

the size of that lump of coins you would have found it with a pro pointer  :D :D :D

Not the first time This pair have been in the news :o

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-16908068 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-16908068)

"Mr Mead and Mr Miles hope to find more in the field and so will not say where it is."

Some hope of that eh! :-\

 :D

Well after seeing the news, the machines they have are a hoard hunter (Cscope CS900) and what looks like a Golden Mask.

Some better pics of the hoard;
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2164897/Pair-metal-detector-friends-discover-quarters-TON-Iron-Age-coins-worth-10m-buried-field-Jersey-searching-30-years.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2164897/Pair-metal-detector-friends-discover-quarters-TON-Iron-Age-coins-worth-10m-buried-field-Jersey-searching-30-years.html)

Looking at the depth, no wonder they had the Cscope.

And today it actually weighs a whole ton ;D just imagine what it will weigh by the end of the week

I should be on radio gloucestershire at 12.15pm today, talking about the hoard, and i will mention the problem of green waste, which is becoming a major problem.

Well I did my bit on the radio today, couldn't get everything in I wanted to say, but it might encourage a few farmers to allow metal detectorists on their land.

I start at about  0:16.09 on the time scale.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00tcnc2/Anna_King_27_06_2012/ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00tcnc2/Anna_King_27_06_2012/)

Nice one Steve, well done mate ;)

Well done Steve, you def. threw out a few breadcrumbs, like 10,000,000. :o

Chances are the retailers will do well out of it as well.

Val

Don't know if you have read this Steve,but heres one idiots take on your interview.

http://paul-the vexatious blogger with incredibly itchy underpants.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/metal-detecting-under-microscope-plague.html (http://paul-the vexatious blogger with incredibly itchy underpants.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/metal-detecting-under-microscope-plague.html)

what he expects in a 4 minute interview beggars belief. :-[
maybe he would be happier if you didn't declare it,makes you wonder if its worth it.
Nothing to do with me but my blood boils reading this blog.

Well well well if it isn’t my old  sparing partner Paul ‘half wit’ the vexatious blogger with incredibly itchy underpants, he was probably tipped off about this interview by Gloucestershire Archaeology, who usually go into contortions when I speak on the radio. As they don’t really want anyone pursuing a perfectly legal hobby, which is carried out by thousands of people  throughout the U.K, and have added significantly to our knowledge of the past.

The radio interview was live, I knew nothing about what Anna King would ask, and only replied to her questions. There was no time to mention the P.A.S or recording finds for that matter or the interview would have gone on for hours .
Paul’s only problem is they didn’t ask him, but then he was probably busy working on a pantomime  performance somewhere, as the arse end of a donkey !  ::)

People will always  enter the hobby hoping to get rich, and dealers will be rubbing their hands around the county as the tills start to ring. It’s the same when there is a big lottery win, people pile in, but very few people make a profit.

With the amount of land out there, and the population of Britain through the ages, I would think there are still 1000’s of hoard to find, probably a lot bigger than we have seen so far.

All that newspapers and  radio presenters want to hear is the value of the objects, rusty nails and pull rings don’t get many people excited.
To say detectorists are  only in it for the money, is totally wrong as the landowner has a say in it as well. Nothing wrong in screwing for Government for every penny you can, because they have certainly screwed us all over the years, time and time again.
Paul the vexatious blogger with incredibly itchy underpants may bleat on with his communist ramblings and say everything belongs to the state, but we live in a democracy where capitalist tendencies rule. Maybe he should go and work in a Siberian salt mine, and if were really lucky, they will seal the entrance. ;D