Hoard of 22,000 Roman Coins Found by Treasure Hunter

Excerpts from: ANN - Treasure hunter discovers 22,000 Roman coins

A hoard of 22,000 Roman coins has been unearthed on land near Seaton in East Devon. The “Seaton Down Hoard” of copper-alloy Roman coins is one of the largest and best preserved 4th Century collections to have ever been found in Britain.

cha-ching!

The discovery was made in November 2013 by East Devon builder and metal detector enthusiast Laurence Egerton who was operating under licence on private land near the previously excavated site of a Roman villa at Honeyditches in East Devon.

Mr. Egerton first hit upon a couple of loose coins sitting on top of the soil and then he started digging. Beneath the coins were iron ingots and below those, a large hoard of coins dating to between AD 260 and AD 348 and with many bearing the image of Emperor Constantine. The estimated value of the coins when they buried is reported to been equivalent to about a soldier's pay for an entire year. Given the shape of the hoard in situ, it's likely the coins were buried in a cloth sack which long ago deteriorated.

Not only is this story noteworthy because it's a huge number of well preserved 4th century Roman coins, there's also the fact that rather than looking at his find as a financial windfall, the discoverer did the right thing:

“Under the terms of my licence, I contacted Clinton Devon Estates and Danielle Wooton (PAS Finds Liaison Officer and archaeologist) and Bill Horner (County Archaeologist) and was instructed to take away what was loose and then fill in the hole. Between finding the hoard and the archaeologists excavating the site I slept alongside it in my car for three nights to guard it!"

“It’s by far the biggest find I’ve ever had. It really doesn’t get any better than this! It is so important to record all of these finds properly because it’s so easy to lose important insights into our history,” added Mr. Egerton.

That said, Mr. Egerton does stand to profit from his find:

Under the Treasure Act 1996, now that the hoard has been declared Treasure by a coroner, it has to be offered to an accredited museum to acquire. The finder and landowner are normally entitled to a reward equal to the market value of the hoard, as determined by the Treasure Valuation Committee.

Great find! Too bad the gov't will screw them "Royally". /

Under the Treasure Act 1996, now that the hoard has been declared Treasure by a coroner, it has to be offered to an accredited museum to acquire. The finder and landowner are normally entitled to a reward equal to the market value of the hoard, as determined by the Treasure Valuation Committee.

that's a swift kick to the bollocks!!!.
S&F great thread.

I hope he pocketed a few hundred for himself before he reported the rest. It wouldn't be fair if all of them had to go to a museum and the treasure-hunter was left holding the deteriorated bag.

originally posted by: Aleister
I hope he pocketed a few hundred for himself before he reported the rest. It wouldn't be fair if all of them had to go to a museum and the treasure-hunter was left holding the deteriorated bag.

Britain has a good method of paying for found treasures:

Payment for finding a treasure

Those folks got 3 million for it.

Experts will have to calculate the value of the coins individually. The price for Roman coins seems to run from about $10 to over a thousand but it all depends on the popularity, rarity and condition. Based on the image and the article, most of these coins are in good shape. My far-from-educated guess would be that the hoard is worth anywhere from several hundred thousands of dollars (USD) to perhaps a few million. It would be interesting to know how much Mr. Egerton will see from it.

No think about the history for a second. Perhaps a years pay for a soldier.... It looks a bit heavy and cumbersome to think one soldier hoarded his pay for an entire year unless he was garrisoned there and didnt travel the land fighting battles.

Perhaps he did and on some sunny day the hoards attacked and he buried his coins, his dreams of buying a small cottage and starting a family, his dreams of buying a ship and making his fortune in the new worlds...

perhaps a dozen men buried their coins and made a pact that if any survived they got to keep it?

Regardless a man, much like you or I, earned those coins long ago and buried them for some reason.

a reply to: tinner07

Regardless a man, much like you or I, earned those coins long ago and buried them for some reason.

Also like today he/they probably buried them from the government.

Damned taxes and the likes.

It could be a year's pay for one soldier or a weeks pay for a platoon (25-60 soldiers).

I think it's possible that this was a payroll that was looted by bandits and buried for safekeeping.

a reply to: theantediluvian

I hope I'm not redundant with this, it seems grossly wrong to say it amounts to what a soldier (what rank?) would earn in a year. 22,000x365=60. Sixty coins a day, every day. Not likely.

THAT IS SO COOL!!! I love history seen from this perspective. So much to speculate on. I wonder how many peoples hands exchanged those coins before being put in the ground for us to find and enjoy.

You think in a thousand years some guy is going to be digging up a crate full of hundred dollar bills and gold coins??? And a bunch of people will be on some conspiracy website talking about our culture and money in the past tense??? Pretty awesome.

a reply to: Hanslune

I didn't mean he wouldn't get paid for his discovery, but he should be allowed to keep a few hundred as personal mementos and to give to friends and family at Christmas. "Here, my good nephew, have an ancient coin your uncle found, and give one to your sister". If it were one gold statue of some greek god or dog, sure, put it all in a museum. But this guy found 22,000 of the things. He should be able to keep a few hundred to do with what he wants.

a reply to: Aleister

As I understand it part of some agreements is that the museum gets any coins that might be historically important and part of the payment can be in those coins (usually the common ones) that are not needed.

However, I cannot find a source to back that up.

a reply to: PraetorianAZ

In the future they could dig up a computer chip with a couple million in bitcoins for all we know.
It could happen

I'm conflicted about this issue. The historical and archeological value is huge, but I would think that property ownership, esp. mineral rights, would trump the greedy museums. I wouldn't hold anyone to fault if they kept their mouth shut and sold such a treasure to the black market or kept it horded away.

Consider if you owned a property with a home that had some historic significance. Could they force you to move after you bought it and had been living there? Wouldn't the owner have the same rights as the original person who had it built?

This just goes to show that any form of ownership is only good until someone else (usually someone in power) has something "better" to do with your property. Give it up, it's "good" for the rest of humanity, or go to jail and pay fines. Thinly veiled communism in my opinion.

That was a great find for the treasure hunter. Woot!

originally posted by: MichiganSwampBuck
I'm conflicted about this issue. The historical and archeological value is huge, but I would think that property ownership, esp. mineral rights, would trump the greedy museums.

How is the museum greedy if the finder is payed. The purpose of the law is to reward finders and inspire them to turn materials in so they can studied instead of melted down.

I wouldn't hold anyone to fault if they kept their mouth shut and sold such a treasure to the black market or kept it horded away.

That is what use to happen but under the new system that appears to happening much less.

This just goes to show that any form of ownership is only good until someone else (usually someone in power) has something "better" to do with your property. Give it up, it's "good" for the rest of humanity, or go to jail and pay fines. Thinly veiled communism in my opinion.

You think communists would one, allow someone to own a metal detector and allow private property or pay a person millions of dollars for finding a horde?

I think not.