Lindisfarne proves to be a real treasure island

[Neil]

By David Wilkes

Working in construction, the aptly named Richard Mason was used to digging up all sorts. So when he found a grubby old jug while underpinning a house on the island of Lindisfarne, he just threw it in the back of his van without a second thought.

It was eight years later when he stumbled across it again in his father’s basement where he’d left it and decided to clean it.

When he tipped it up, to his amazement out fell a pile of gold and silver coins - including one stamped with Pope Clement VII, who famously refused to annul the marriage of Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon in the 1520s.

The coin, called a scudo, comes from Ancona in central Italy and is believed to be possibly only the second of its kind discovered anywhere in the world.

It is so rare that experts Mr Mason contacted in Italy are only aware of one other coin like it having been sold in the last two decades.

Together, the collection of 10 gold and seven silver coins from the 1440s to the 1560s could be worth tens of thousands in total, but the rarity of the scudo means putting an exact price on them has so far been impossible.

 
Geographical spread: The coins are from Italy, Saxony and France

Mr Mason, 38, of Rothbury, Northumberland, found the ceramic jug in 2003. After stumbling upon the coins in 2011, he took his find to show a local archaeologist who then reported the find to the British Museum.

An inquest in Northumberland recently determined that the find was ‘treasure trove’. The case is currently being considered by the government’s Treasure Valuation Committee, which will put a value on the coins on December 5.

The Great North Museum at Hancock is hoping to raise the money to acquire them once they are valued. The funds are likely to be shared between Mr Mason and the unnamed owner of the land where the jug was found.

On Wednesday Mr Mason, who runs a construction firm with his father, said the house they were working on when they found the jug was built in 1962, but stood on top of the remains of a 14th century building.

 
Builder Richard Mason said he was 'tickled pink' by the discovery of the coins, which are currently being valued by the government's Treasure Valuation Committee

THE LOWDOWN ON LINDISFARNE
It's also known as the Holy Island.
It measures roughly 1,000 acres.
It has a population of 162.
Irish monk Saint Aidan founded a monastery there in 634AD.
It's most famous for the Lindisfarne Gospels, an illustrated manuscript of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that was made there at some point in the 700s.

The Vikings raided it in 793, an event widely regarded as marking the start of the Viking Age.

.He said: ‘I was hand digging around a pipe and I heard a clunk. I thought "that’s strange" so I dug around it and exposed a little jug. I pulled the jug out, it was covered in mud and clarts.

‘I had a quick look inside it appeared empty. I chucked it in the back of the van. Only recently, did I think it was worth giving the jug a little spring clean. I couldn’t believe it when all this gold and silver dropped out.

‘I’m absolutely tickled pink. Discovering something this rare doesn’t happen every day. I’ve never really found anything of any value of significance before.’ The collection of coins is currently being held by the British Museum.

Ian Richardson, treasure registrar at the British Museum said: ‘These coins were probably savings that were built up over a number of years and buried to keep them safe.

‘There are coins from Italy, Saxony and France. Foreign coins could be used in this country much more easily in the 16th century.

‘We don’t know who owned the coins. But for whatever reason, it seems they weren’t able to come back and collect them.

 
Lindisfarne lies off the north-east coast of England

‘They may have forgotten where they buried them or they may have met with an untimely end. It’s rare to get a complete vessel like this full of coins. It’s an unusual find.’ One coin has been identified as a silver thaler, a coin made in Germany in the 1500s. The thaler was eventually adopted by the early American colonies and later become known as the dollar.

Mr Mason said: ‘Lindisfarne, or Holy Island as we call it up here, was a well-used naval base in the 16th Century. It’s not impossible that coins from all over Europe will have landed there.’

In 1963, Alan Short, from Seahouses, found a pile of Elizabethan silver coins in almost the same spot on Holy Island. Those 50 coins are now housed at The Hancock Museum, in Newcastle.

[Villan (Neil)]

Great story Neil,the lucky ******* ! Amazing

[probono]

That's not bad for just something lying around in the back of your van!

I'm hoping to find a pot like that one of these days

[Dryland]

The only pot in the back of my van with gold in, is the one I have to use in the middle of
the night

[cardiffian]

Interesting read Neil. The pot they came out of isn't bad either.

[legio11augustus]

great read ,wonder if he will have a penalty slapped on him for not bringing them forward sooner , like the guy who found the big roman silver salver

[cardiffian]

He will probably be ok as long as he reported them within 14 days of discovering they were in the pot. You have to report Treasure within 14 days of realising it is Treasure, so the first 8 years wouldn't count if he didn't know they were in the pot.