roman gold ring Ireland

Roman rings unearthed in Ireland declared as treasure.

Two Roman rings and a silver belt buckle unearthed at a beach in County Down, Northern Ireland have been declared to be treasure by a coroner in Belfast. The three artefacts were found by Brian Murray, metal detecting enthusiast at Murlough in Dundrum Bay. They have been portrayed as extremely important and rare Roman artefacts in the context of Irish history. They will be shipped to the British Museum in London for further inspection and valuation. Whatever they are worth Mr Murray, from Newtownards in County Down, will get 50% of the value.roman hoard metal detecting Ireland

A treasure trove inquest was held on Wednesday to establish the circumstances around how the artefacts were discovered. To be classified as treasure, objects must be at least 300 years old and have a metallic content of at least 10%.

roman gold silver hoard metal detecting

Mr Murray said he discovered the items within five minutes and within an area of one square metre.

Dr Greer Ramsey, an expert from the National Museums of Northern Ireland, said it was possible the items had all belonged to the same person. Roman material is incredibly rare, so this makes this hoard of special significance. It is possible that it belonged to a burial and someone was buried at sea. It is equally possible that somebody was wearing it when their ship went down. This is putting the north-east of Ireland on the Roman map. The buckle is similar to those found in Britain dating to the 4th century AD.

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roman silver buckle metal detectingroman gold ring Ireland

 

detectorists with xp deus metal detectors

Story of the Iron Age gold stater hoard

It was a Saturday evening and I was pondering whether to play golf the next day or to go detecting. I gave Jonno (dad) a call  to see if he fancied a morning out swinging.

He was up for it so he rang a few friends from our club Four Quarters MDC.

He rang Derek (runner) and Shawn (Spartacus) and We all agreed to meet up the next morning at Derek’s permission. It was near Bridgnorth, Shropshire.
I (Martus) drove down to Derek’s full of anticipation and excitement hoping to get a bagful of goodies. I was on a roll after finding a lovely Saxon strap end on our Four Quarters rally the weekend before.
“I don’t expect much today” Derek mumbled in the car on the way to the field. “Don’t be so negative” I replied “I’ll show you how to do it” chuckling to myself.
We met Jonno and Shawn at the farm parked next to the field. They were drinking coffee and chatting away like to old women. Nothing new there then.
The sun was shining brightly with a small breeze from the easterly wind. It was Perfect detecting conditions. We all had our XP Deus machines switched on with different settings being used including Basic 1, Deus fast and gm power.
Off we went slowly making our way to the bottom of the field. Heading towards the brook. celtic gold stater deus metal detecting

It was very quiet and We didn’t get a signal for half an hour when we spotted Shawn on his knees digging. ” A blooming horseshoe” he said but he did not use those exact words. I’ll leave the exact words to your own imagination. Anyone who knows Shawn will now what I mean.

Another half hour passed by and we had nothing in our finds pouch except one button to show for it.

I was ready to leave and try another field across the lane.

We all made our way to the end of the field to Derek we wanted to try else where. As we walked down the hill to him we hear a scream from Derek. Jumping up and down like a crazed madman. “I’ve got one, I’ve got one I’ve got a Gold Roman” he cried.
“Oh shut up you your telling porky pies” Shawn replied. ” No, no honestly I’ve got one”‘Derek insisted. “I’ve got a Roman”. He was only a few yards away so I went to have a look. ” That’s not Roman, it’s a Celtic stater you’ve got there” I laughed “you jammy git”
I couldn’t believe that anything at all had turned up. I’ve never been so shocked in my life.

celtic stater gold metal detecting

As Derek walked on down the hill Shawn said jokingly” have you tried the hole it may be a hoard”.

Then about a yard further on Shawn screams “I got one, I got one” the signal number was 76 on the Deus.
“That signal was very scratchy” he said, “I wasn’t going to dig it”. It just shows you must always check your hole and around it after you have found your signal.
I got on the phone and rang my Good pal Pon who is also our club chairman for Four Quarters MDC, “I’m on my way” he chuckled.

In the meantime Derek carried on in a straight line about 5 yards away. I think “I’ve got another lads. It’s a 76” sure enough there it was as bright as could be. Only about 6 inches down.
I was starting to feel as though the hoard had passed me by when I heard a very faint signal. Not even registering a number on the remote. As a rule I don’t think I would have dug it. I put the spade in and lifted the front edge. All of a sudden the signal changed to a solid beeping 76. I knew it had to be. I got the pin-pointer in the hole. Removed the soil and there it was. A beautiful full stater of the Dubonni. A rare Comux in great condition. I  punched the air in delight and did a dance of which Michael Jackson would have been proud of. celtic gold staters

Shawn was as happy for me  as I was. I jumped up on to him with excitement as he carried me around on his back like a big kid.

Then two minutes later Derek found another. That was three for him. It was all getting rather mad now.
Pon then turned up with a big grin on his face. “Well done lads, you’ve got some great coins there. It’s very rare to find a Celtic gold coin hoard!” Unbelievable was the best word I could think of. What a day. Not what I expected this morning when I got out of bed.
But there was a bit of disappointment in dads eyes. He was the only one of us  not to find a gold stater. Thirty minutes on and still no coin for Jonno.
About 5 yards away to the left he called me over to check a signal. “I can’t hear anything Dad. There’s nothing there” I told him and I walked away.

Then all of a sudden
“Yes!” he shouted. “Yes, yes, yes!”. He’d got one. We all dropped our detectors and mobbed him, dancing around and screaming. What a site it must have been. Five grown men dancing around in the middle of the field. Dressed in camouflage with wellies on. gold stater celtic deus metal detecting

What a brilliant day. The way it happened with Five good friends all sharing a day of a lifetime. With us finding our first gold coin  and our first gold stater. All of us getting a share in the glory. Unbelievable.

Pon then rang the Flo Angie to notify her of our scattered hoard and to abide by the treasure trove laws. We rang the farmers wife and she came over immediately  to join us and take a look at our finds. ” Wow, they’re beautiful. I’m so happy for you all” was her response. We explained to her the procedures and told her she would get 50%. She was over the moon. It couldn’t have gone to a nicer lady. We now await to see the outcome of this adventure. Hope fully the site will get excavated as I believe there is a lot more in the ground just out of our reach.

We have returned to the field since where Shawn found one more gold stater now making the total seven.

I’m looking forward to more visits to the field as any more staters found will add to the history of the Hoard.

A big thank you to Derek for allowing us on his permission.

A big thank you to the farmer and his wife and their son.

A big thank you to Pona for calming us down and organising the procedure of contacting the FLO and helping us record the finds.

By

Martin Sibley

detectorists with xp deus metal detectors

Shawn,Derek,Jonno & Mart. All with their Xp Deus.

 

 

St Albans roman gold coin hoard

St. Albans Roman coins hoard bought for £100,000

A hoard of Roman gold coins unearthed in St Albans has been bought by one of the city’s museums for nearly £100,000. The trove was found by a metal detecting enthusiast on private land in October 2012 by a man making his first survey. The catch is believed to be one of the largest Roman gold coin hoards buried in the UK. The 159 coins date from the final years of Roman rule in Britain in the 4th Century and will go on display at Verulamium Museum from mid-September. David Thorold, a curator at the museum, said that Evidence suggests the coins were originally part of a hoard that had been disturbed at some point during the last couple of hundred years. During the Roman occupation of Britain, people buried coins for two reasons – either as a sacrifice to their gods or as a form of secure storage, with the aim of later recovery.

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St Albans roman gold coin hoard

gold treasure hoard israel

Largest hoard of gold coins unearthed in Israel

A group of divers in Israel has stumbled upon the largest hoard of gold coins ever discovered in the country. The divers reported the find to the Israel Antiquities Authority, and nearly 2,000 coins dating back to the Fatimid period, or the eleventh century, were salvaged by the authority’s Marine Archaeology Unit. The find was unearthed from the seabed of the ancient harbour in Caesarea National Park, according to a press release from the Israel Antiquities Authority. The five divers have been called “model citizens” by the antiquities organization. Had the divers removed the objects from their location or tried to sell them, they could have faced a sentence of up to five years in prison. The oldest of the coins is a quarter dinar that was minted in Palermo, Sicily during the second half of the ninth century. The majority of the coins can be traced back to the Faimid caliphs, Al-Ḥākim and his son Al-Ẓāhir who were alive in during the eleventh century. These coins were minted in Egypt and North Africa.

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gold treasure hoard israel

civil war gold silver coins hoard

17th century coin hoard unearthed in a garden

ALMOST six month’s pay earned by a soldier fighting in the English Civil War will provide a windfall its finder. The 18 silver and gold coins uncovered in a garden in Nerrols Farm, Taunton, totalled £5 5s 3¾d – 5½ months’ wages for a common soldier in the 17th Century and £450 in today’s value. But the hoard, probably belonging to a Royalist soldier and left during the siege of Taunton in 1645, could fetch thousands of pounds when it is bought by the town’s Museum of Somerset. An inquest, which concluded the coins are treasure, heard how they were found by a young man in October as he took down a tree in his parents’ garden so they could build a workshop.

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coins23 coins2 civil war gold silver coins hoard

 

gold hoard treasure thailand

Gold Treasure Hoard in Thailand

The gold treasure was unearthed after the land owner decided prepare the ground to plant oil palm trees. After heavy rain last Saturday, the land owner and workers planting the trees came across a buried hoard of gold. The news spread and a gold rush followed with hundreds of people from nearby villages and even nearby provinces rushing to dig for a share of the treasure. Many treasure hunters emerged with gold sheets engraved with figures, coins and ornaments of different sizes — from one baht-weigh of gold to almost a kilogramme a piece. The treasure hunt continued until Wednesday night, and by then no one was finding any more gold, although the holes they dug were getting quite deep. Wi Tubsaeng, the land owner, said he has asked villagers to leave the area and will put up a sign prohibiting people from digging in there. This would allow officials from the Fine Arts Department to work in the area.

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gold hoard treasure thailand

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Saddle Ridge hoard on display before sale

The largest hoard of gold treasure thought to ever be found in North America is on exposition this weekend at a Nevada antique show, providing the public with an exceptional chance to see the nearly perfectly conserved coins in person before they are sold later this month. Called the Saddle Ridge hoard, the approximately 1,400 U.S. gold coins date from 1847 to 1894. They were unearthed in nearly mint condition inside eight rusty tins by a couple taking a walk on their estate in California’s gold country in February. The treasure has a face value of more than $28,000 but could sell for more than $10 million when put up for sale near the end of the month, according to Kagin’s Inc., the numistmatic firm that evaluated the find and is acting for the anonymous couple who found it. At least 13 of the coins are the finest known of their kind, according to the firm. Among them is an 1866 $20 coin printed without the “In God We Trust” motto, known as the 1866-S No Motto Double Eagle, said David Hall, cofounder of Professional Coin Grading Services in Irvine, who authenticated the coins.

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la-epa-usa-gold-coins-found-buriedPart of the Saddle Ridge hoard of gold coins found by a Northern California couple

coin hoard gold treasure

Lady Liberty coin, part of Saddle Ridge hoard will go on auction at San Francisco Old Mint

The Old Mint in San Francisco is preparing to display and auction a gold coin, from The Saddle Ridge hoard of gold coins dating back to the 1800s. The Saddle Ridge hoard was found back in February by a couple while walking their dog. News reports by all the major networks gave account of this rare and lucky find.The treasure, contained in eight buried cans, consists of four $5 gold pieces, fifty $10 gold pieces, and 1,373 $20 double eagles. The current value of the coins all together is estimated at over $10 million. The exhibit opens on Tuesday 27th of May. Presentations will begin at 7:30 pm followed by an auction at 8:30 pm of an 1874-S $20 gold piece, one of the first coins struck at the Old Mint.

coin hoard gold treasure

coin hoard gold treasure

Lady Liberty coin, part of Saddle Ridge hoard will go on auction at San Francisco Old Mint

The Old Mint in San Francisco is preparing to display and auction a gold coin, from The Saddle Ridge hoard of gold coins dating back to the 1800s. The Saddle Ridge hoard was found back in February by a couple while walking their dog. News reports by all the major networks gave account of this rare and lucky find.The treasure, contained in eight buried cans, consists of four $5 gold pieces, fifty $10 gold pieces, and 1,373 $20 double eagles. The current value of the coins all together is estimated at over $10 million. The exhibit opens on Tuesday 27th of May. Presentations will begin at 7:30 pm followed by an auction at 8:30 pm of an 1874-S $20 gold piece, one of the first coins struck at the Old Mint.

coin hoard gold treasure

hoard coins metal detecting medieval bronze age

Metal detectorist finds medieval and Bronze Age relics in West Norfolk

A hoard of 12 silver coins has been found by Stephen Sproule whilst he was metal detecting on land at Fincham, near Downham Market, in October 2011. It has been declared treasure, which means their finder can keep them, at a coroner’s inquest today.

Coroner Jacqueline Lake said the small silver coins were known as Sceattas and represented the first type of penny, which were minted from 675AD until the middle of the 8th Century.

“They were scattered over a wide area but would appear to represent a hoard or part of a hoard, rather than stray losses over time” she said.

“These coins are in good condition and had not been in circulation long when deposited.”

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http://www.edp24.co.uk/

hoard coins metal detecting medieval bronze age