Stephen Auker, who recently took up metal detecting shrugged off his novice status to pull off a major archaeological discovery. He found dozens of ancient silver Roman coins at a site in Riddlesden. They are all more than 1,700 years old and date from the time of Roman emperors such as Hadrian, Trajan and Marcus Aurelius. They have already been named ‘The Riddlesden Hoard’, but have still to be valued. Mr Auker, who lives in Riddlesden, Keighley, said he felt “incredibly lucky”. He only started metal detecting as a new hobby just before Christmas, after previously dedicating much of his time to running in aid of Cancer Research UK. After buying a metal detector he started searching for items he could sell to continue raising cash for charity. He said and his wife went to an area of Riddlesden where he had permission to conduct metal detecting.
Stephen Auker with XP Deus metal detector, and some of the coins
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