COINING IT IN
Friends using metal detectors dig up hoard of 14th century coins worth £150k
The amateurs excavated 557 over four days at an organised rally in a field in Buckinghamshire
A HOARD of 14th century coins worth an estimated £150,000 has been dug up by four metal detectorists.
The amateurs excavated 557 over four days at an organised rally in a field.
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The treasure comprises 12 rare full-gold Edward III nobles from the Black Death era and 545 silver coins, thought to be from Edward I and II’s reigns.
Finders Andrew Winter, 38, Tobiasz Nowak, 30, his brother Mateusz, 33, and Dariusz Fijalkowski, 44, kept guard each night in a tent beside the hole.
Crane driver Andrew, of Blyth, Northumberland, said: “We just kept finding coins and digging.
“My machine was like a hoover. To do it with my friends Tobiasz and Mateusz was so special.”
The three spent an hour digging on a field near Hambleden, a village recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, without finding anything.
They were on their way to another location when Andrew's detector signalled a code which suggested it had detected a hammered silver coin - so he started digging.
The trio turned over a clod of earth with two coins in it, and could see more in the hole.
£150K COIN FIND
Then-stranger Dariusz, a dad-of-three and machine operator from Bristol, came found two silver coins around the same time.
In detecting and treasure finding, anything over three coins is a 'hoard' - and has to be declared to organisers. The area is then cleared.
It was claimed jointly by the foursome, who were left to work alone.
They said they had to fight off competition and admit it got "absolutely hectic" when news of the find got round the festival.
On the first day they found 276 silver coins and nine gold nobles, and all admit they barely slept due to excitement.
Over three days the team's hoard grew to 545 silver coins plus fragments, and 12 gold nobles.
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Some of them have been doing the hobby for less than a year.
The coins were dubbed the Hambleden Hoard, after the village in Bucks near the dig site.
Their final sale proceeds will be split with the landowner.
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