Rare gold coins discovered to the north of St Albans have gone on display at the British Museum
The hoard of 159 Roman coins is believed to be one of the largest ever discoveries of their kind in the UK.
The district council revealed the discovery of the hoard last October after they were declared a nationally significant find.
The hoard of the Roman coins, called solidus (plural – solidi), are in a good condition and were found on private land to the north of the district and were scattered across a fairly wide area. It is believed the hoard was disturbed and moved to the surface in the last couple of hundred years due to quarrying or ploughing on the site.
Henry Flynn, a museum assistant who has worked on the display, said: “If you look closely at the coins in the case you will see that many of them are still muddy.
“They are all legible and can be identified, but the traces of dirt nicely show that this is a very recent find that came from the ground.
“Many people don’t realise how much work goes into treasure at the British Museum, particularly the conservation work, so hopefully this changing display will be of great interest to the public.”
Further reading
http://www.stalbansreview.co.uk
http://finds.org.uk