Hoard Of 2,000-Year-Old Silver Roman Coins Unearthed By Group Of Friends An

What a wonderful discovery. Sort of a metal detector's dream find, isn't it?

"When you pick up that Roman coin out of the ground, after it's been there for 2,000 years, it still puts tingles up my spine that the last person to touch that coin was a Roman. It's fascinating." That must have been so much fun.

Vespasian coins, a few decades after the conquest and a few years after Boudicca. That is early stuff.
What an incredible find.

If I understand the process correctly, a coroner's inquest determines whether the find constitutes 'treasure' as defined by law. If the hoard is declared 'treasure', it becomes the property of the crown and a reward at market value is divided between the finder and the landowner. If the crown has no particular interest in acquiring the treasure, it may be, at the crown's discretion, returned to the finder and landowner to dispose of as they please. In practical terms, hoards of national historical significance tend to be retained while hoards of more common coins are catalogued for academic purposes and then returned to the finder and landowner, often ending up in the trade.

That many silver coins would certainly qualify as a "hoard" under the Act - meaning the finders wouldn't automatically get to keep them.

While it is still too early to know for sure (the excavations are still underway), now that a team of archaeologists are involved, and given the rarity of large hoards from so early in the Roman period, it will almost certainly mean the entire hoard will go to a museum dedicated to the excavations of the area.

It made me drool reading that article......