In 2014, amateur metal detectorist Jim Bailey found a silver coin at Sweet Berry farm in Middletown, Rhode Island. The Arabic on the coin caught Bailey's attention, and he soon discovered that it had been minted in 1693 in Yemen, even though there was no evidence that those living in the New World traded in the Middle East at that time. Since then, 16 Arabian coins have been found, and they have potentially revealed the truth about English pirate Captain Henry Every. In 1695, Every's ship Fancy ransacked Indian royal ship Ganj-i-Sawai. One of the most lucrative thefts in history, it had been thought that Every fled to Ireland. But these coins suggest Every and his men actually went via North America. Pictured is a similar coin from the 16th-17th century.
Last July, a Viking treasure hoard was discovered by metal detectorist Kath Giles (pictured right) – her fourth find since taking up the hobby only three years ago – on the Isle of Man between Ireland and England. The hoard is made up of 87 Viking silver coins and other artefacts dating from the 990s AD through to the 1030s, and experts believe that the hoard was likely to be someone's personal wealth. Most of the silver coins had been minted in Dublin, Ireland; Germany; and on the Isle of Man itself. The hoard has not been formally valued as yet, but it's likely to be worth thousands.
A metal detectorist discovered treasure worth thousands on his first ever hunt in Worcestershire, England in 2021. Charles Cartwright unearthed Roman and Viking jewellery, as well as some ancient Egyptian relics and medieval and Bronze Age pieces (pictured). After finding the pieces Cartwright reported them to the landowner and the authorities, who went on to discover something even more remarkable about the treasures.
Rather than being buried there over time, it was soon found that the items were actually those taken during a house burglary in 2017. It's thought whoever took the valuable treasures decided to bury them. The pieces have now been returned to their rightful owner, who had "resigned [them]selves that [they] wouldn't get them back as they had been gone that long". The investigation into who took the pieces in the first place is ongoing.
In 2018, treasure seeker Graeme Rushton discovered a rare silver penny on the border of the counties of South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in England. It depicts Stephen, King of England between 1135-1154, and his wife Matilda. The coin, one of only 25 known specimens, sold in 2020 for a cool £10,540 ($14.5k). Last summer, a band of treasure hunters led by Rushton unearthed four medieval coins at an undisclosed site near Cumbria, England. The coins, which date from 1100 to 1219 and were declared treasure, are from the reigns of Henry I, Richard I, John I, and Henry III.
In January 2019, metal detectorist Michelle Vall was searching in Balloch, Loch Lomond, Scotland, when she struck gold. The gold in question was a 17th-century ring believed to have once belonged to a courtier of King James II of England before he took the throne. In September 2020 it went up for auction and sold for an impressive $18,000 (£14k). It wasn’t the first time Vall had found treasure: in 2017 a rare gold coin she discovered sold for $52,800 (£42.9k) at auction.
This gold signet ring had been buried for around 400 years when a metal detectorist found it in Buckinghamshire, England in 2018. Dating from the 17th century, the ring has a hinged bezel that reveals a family crest on one side and an engraved unicorn's head on the other. Experts have identified the crest as belonging to the historic Curwen family, which lived 270 miles away from the farm at which the ring was found. On 9 December 2021 it sold for £20,000 ($26.5k), well above its its original estimate of £12,000 ($15.87k).
One lucky metal detectorist struck gold while prospecting in Western Australia, chancing across a giant 3lb (1.4kg) gold nugget in May 2019, which is 50% bigger than the example pictured. The unnamed man walked into a shop in Kalgoorlie, Finders Keepers Gold Prospecting, to show them his discovery. Such a large gold nugget is rare to find and the treasure was valued at AU$100,000 ($66.9k/£51.8k).
A metal detectorist in Newbury, England discovered what has been described as the “most important single Iron Age coin ever found in this country” in November 2019. The coin depicts Caratacus (pictured centre), a chieftain who resisted the Roman conquest of Britain in 43AD – approximately 2,000 years ago. The coin shows Caratacus as a naked horseman, wielding a shield and javelin, and is the first to have been found bearing the inscription ‘CARAT’, an indisputable abbreviation of ‘Caratacus’, which makes it the first coin linked to the leader ever found. It went to auction at Chris Rudd Auctions on 15 November 2020, and sold for an impressive £71,000 ($94k) plus premium, nearly triple the £24,000 ($31k) starting price.
As the owner of a metal detector store, Luke Mahoney has dedicated more of his time to treasure hunting than most. After a decade of searching for long-lost valuables, Mahoney finally stumbled across something spectacular in the garden of his local pub, The Lindsey Rose, in Suffolk, England in 2020. Beneath the ground lay a hoard of 1,069 individual 15th-century silver coins, believed to have been stashed away by a wealthy landowner called up to fight during the English Civil War. A report by the British Museum says that hoard is the second largest to be found from the reign of Charles I. The collection, which is expected to be worth at least £100,000 ($130k), has now been declared treasure.
Metal detectorist Andy Carter struck lucky when he discovered this rare gold coin in a field in Cambridgeshire, UK. Dubbed the 'leopard coin', as it depicts a leopard sitting under a banner, the florin dates from January 1344 and is one of just five known examples, according to an auctioneer at Dix Noonan Webb. On 8 March this year, it was bought by a private collector for £173,600 ($226.6k) including buyers' premium. That's over £33,000 ($43k) higher than its original estimate of £140,000 ($182.7k).
Another lucrative gold discovery was made Down Under by keen metal detectorists Brent Shannon and Ethan West near Tarnagulla, Victoria. The brothers-in-law unearthed two nuggets, which had a combined weight of 7.7lb (3.5kg), and experts estimate the gold has a value of AU$350,000 ($250k/£190k), although collectors could be willing to pay even more. Shannon and West featured on TV show Aussie Gold Hunters in August 2020.
In November 2001, metal detectorist Cliff Bradshaw stumbled upon this crushed gold cup in a field near Sandwich, England, which turned out to be a Bronze Age chalice dating from 1700-1500 BC. In 2002, the artefact was snapped up by the British Museum for £270,000 ($383.9k). The cash was split between Bradshaw and the landowner.
The largest gold nugget discovered in California, this famous 156-ounce (4.4kg) chunk of gold was found in 1977 in the Mojave Desert by prospector Ty Paulsen using his trusty metal detector. In October 2014, the nugget was sold for $400,000 (£246k) to Margie and Robert E Petersen, who later donated it to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
This incredible find was discovered by a diver involved in searching the Santa Margarita shipwreck from 1622 off the Florida Keys in June 2008. Michael DeMar thought he'd come across a discarded beer can when his metal detector beeped during the dive, yet amazingly he'd discovered a gold chalice that was lost in the shipwreck of the Santa Margarita. In August 2015, the chalice sold at auction in New York for $413,000 (£319k).
The greatest lost treasure in US history and the incredible story behind it
Voted in 2017 as the UK's top treasure hoard of the last 20 years by Telegraph readers, this hoard was discovered near Frome in Somerset, England in April 2010 by prospector Dave Crisp. Consisting of 52,503 silver and bronze coins dating between AD 250 to 290, it was purchased by the Museum of Somerset in 2011 for £320,000 ($413,900).
In September 1998, amateur treasure hunter Martin Elliot was trying to teach his cousin to use a metal detector when he came across a Roman coin just 10cm below the surface of the ground. Digging deeper, the pair discovered a massive hoard of more than 9,000 silver denarii coins from between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD. The hoard, named after Shapwick in Somerset, England, where they were found, were valued at £265,000 ($418k) in 2000. They were sold to Somerset County Museum at this price. Even more surprisingly, the hoard was reportedly found using a £2 ($2.60) metal detector.
Friends Mark Hambleton and Joe Kania hit the headlines in December 2016 when they discovered four Iron Age gold torcs in a field in Leekfrith, Staffordshire, England. Dating from 400-250 BC, the torcs are thought to be the oldest pieces of Iron Age jewellery found in the UK. At least 80% gold, the hoard was valued in 2017 at $420,400 (£325k).
Now read about the ordinary people who stumbled upon extraordinary amounts of gold
This ancient stash of gold torcs and bracelets was found by amateur treasure hunters Michael Rutland and Gordon Heritage in a field near Milton Keynes, England in September 2000. The hoard was purchased for £290,000 ($457.8k) by the British Museum, with the finders receiving a 60% cut from the sale.
Using metal detectors, Michael Darke and Keith Lewis located this hoard of 840 Iron Age gold coins back in March 2008 in a field at Dallinghoo near Wickham Market in England. Following a two-month-long campaign to keep the coins in the county of Suffolk where they'd been found, in June 2011 Ipswich Museum announced it had managed to raise the £316,000 ($467k) needed to purchase the coin stash. Darke and Lewis each received around £75,000 ($116k) each from the find. But the pair soon engaged in a legal battle, as Darke disputed that Lewis actually helped find the coins, stating that he merely looked at them afterwards. Darke states that the pair had agreed that he would report the treasure and Lewis would receive one coin as a reward for looking after the coins, but Lewis reported the treasure too, claiming that he helped dig them up. The rest of the reward went to landowner Cliff Green.
This treasure of Iron Age gold jewellery was discovered in December 2000 in a freshly-ploughed field near Winchester, England by retired florist Kevan Halls. The trove of exquisite gold pieces was purchased by the British Museum for £350,000 ($551.5k) in 2003.
In February 2005, tree surgeon Maurice Richardson couldn't believe his luck when his metal detector beeped in a field in Newark-on-Trent, England and he unearthed this stunning Iron Age gold alloy torc. Newark Museum bought the torc for £350,000 ($614k) in 2006, and the proceeds of the sale were divided between Richardson and the landowner, Cambridge University.
In September 2009, rookie metal detectorist David Booth found this hoard of Iron Age gold torcs in a Scottish field during his very first treasure hunt – some people really do get all the luck. The hoard earned Booth a reward of £462,000 ($654k) at the time.
The largest gold nugget ever found using a metal detector, the 960-ounce (27.2kg) Hand of Faith was discovered by Kevin Hillier near Kingower, Australia back in September 1980. Six months after being found, the giant gold nugget was, fittingly, sold to the Golden Nugget Casino Las Vegas for $1 million (£453k), which would be equal to around $2.83 million (£2.2m) in today's money.
The largest surviving gold nugget found in the Western Hemisphere, the 389-ounce (11kg) Boot of Cortez was discovered in 1989 by a prospector in Mexico's Sonoran Desert using a cheap metal detector. A lucrative find, the huge boot-shaped nugget went on to fetch $1.55 million (£782k) at auction in 2008.
This hoard of more than 5,000 late Anglo-Saxon coins was found buried in a field near Lenborough, England in 2014 by metal detectorist Paul Coleman. In June 2016, the Treasure Valuation Committee gave them a valuation of $1.75 million (£1.25m), which went to Coleman. The coins were purchased by the Buckinghamshire County Musem in 2017 after money was raised from donations and grants.
The largest stash of late Roman gold and silver discovered in Britain, the Hoxne Hoard was found by metal detecting whiz Eric Lawes back in November 1992 buried in farmland near Hoxne, England. Valued at £1.75 million ($2.5m) in 1993, the money was shared between Lawes and the farmer Peter Whatling.
Metal detecting hobbyist Derek McLennan struck lucky when he chanced upon a treasure trove of more than 100 ingots, jewellery, gold and silver from the Viking period in a field in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland in 2014. Three years later, National Museums Scotland acquired the hoard for a whopping £2 million ($2.8m).
In 2017, amateur metal detectorist Kevin Duckett struck lucky when he discovered a gold figurine depicting King Henry VI near a pond in Northamptonshire, England. Duckett believes it to be a piece from the later King Henry VIII's lost crown, which Oliver Cromwell had ordered to be melted down following the Civil War, as it is thought the gemstones and figurines could have been removed before it was destroyed. Julian Evan-Hart, editor of Treasure Hunting magazine, has estimated that if it's the real thing it could be worth £2 million ($2.8m). Experts at the British Museum are now examining the find. Pictured is a replica of the crown that is exhibited at Hampton Court Palace, with a King Henry VI figurine that looks remarkably similar to the one Kevin Duckett found.
Discovered by two metal detectorists in a field on the island of Jersey, this hoard of 74,000 Celtic coins, along with torcs and gold and silver jewellery, was recently valued at up to £2.5 million ($3.2m) by the Treasure Valuation Committee. The giant clump of corroded-together metal was discovered in June 2012 by Reg Mead and Richard Miles, and was declared the world’s largest Celtic coin hoard ever found.
This rare bronze helmet, discovered at Crosby Garrett in Cumbria, England is one of just three of its type ever found in the UK. Discovered in May 2010 by an unnamed metal detectorist, the helmet was in 67 pieces but was reconstructed by auction house Christie’s before going up for sale. Following a telephone bidding war, the winning bidder paid a massive £2.3 million ($3.4m) for the helmet – more than eight times the estimated price.
It’s a high-value hoard – with a twist. In June 2015, metal detectorists George Powell and Layton Davies (pictured arriving at Worcester Crown Court in late 2020) found a selection of Anglo-Saxon coins and jewellery on a farm near Leominster, Herefordshire in England. The hoard contained 300 coins as well as a gold ring, bracelet and crystal ball pendant, valued at an estimated $3.9 million (£3m) in total. Yet the treasure hunters didn’t declare the hoard and instead illegally sold much of it off to the black market. In November 2019, the men and two accomplices were found guilty of the theft, with "leader" Powell receiving a sentence of 10 years, while Davies was jailed for eight-and-a-half years. As much as 90% of the hoard remains missing.
In 2015, diver William Bartlett, along with a treasure hunting team, discovered treasure worth $4.5 million (£3.5m) from a shipwreck from 1715 off the coast of Florida. The haul included 350 gold coins, nine of which were rare examples known as 'royal eight escudos' (pictured), which were still in impeccable condition after 300 years underwater.
This metal detecting discovery is the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork ever found. Terry Herbert stumbled upon the stash of 4,000 artefacts in a field in Staffordshire, England belonging to farmer Fred Johnson back in July 2009. The pair shared a windfall of £3.28 million ($4.6m) when the hoard was bought jointly by the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery.
You might think tax evasion is something modern but, as a recent discovery in the Chew Valley, Derby in England goes to show, it may have been around for centuries. The hoard, discovered by couple Adam Staples and Lisa Grace in August 2019, consisted of 2,528 coins from the year 1066, some of which had been tampered with and showed different designs on either side. The discovery was given an estimated value of £5 million ($6.5m) and is the largest Norman treasure find since 1833.
One of Ireland's most important archaeological finds, the Derrynaflan Hoard was discovered by Michael Webb and his son Michael Junior in February 1980 near Killenaule, County Tipperary. The Webbs failed to get the correct permission to dig and, as a result, the treasure of five 9th-century liturgical vessels was confiscated by the authorities. The pair ended up receiving just 50,000 Irish pounds for it, the equivalent of €124,000 ($136k/£105k) today, despite the fact it had been valued at 5.5 million Irish pounds in 1986, the equivalent of €13.7 million ($15m/£11.6m) today.
In 2007, salvage firm Odyssey Marine Exploration used metal detectors to find a staggering stash of gold and silver coins, which went down with a Spanish frigate off the coast of Portugal in 1804. Valued at $500 million (£255m) at the time, the treasure was eventually claimed by the Spanish government following a legal battle with Odyssey in the US courts.
In June 2020, Mariusz Stepien was using his metal detector in a field near Peebles, Scotland when he came across what has since been described as one of the country's most significant Bronze Age hoards. Following Stepien’s discovery, a 22-day excavation ensued, revealing a plethora of historical finds. Among them, a complete horse harness and saddle believed to be around 3,000 years old. Other items found include a sword still in its scabbard (similar in age to the one pictured), straps, buckles and chariot wheel axle caps, all excellently preserved by the surrounding soil. The treasures have been taken to the National Museums Collection Centre in Edinburgh. While they haven’t been given a monetary value as yet, they are pieces of huge national importance.
One of the largest treasure troves ever found in Denmark was unearthed in 2021 in the country's southwest. Amateur archaeologist Ole Ginnerup Schytz had just recently acquired a metal detector and was walking the fields near Jelling, a town thought by historians to be the home of Viking-age kings between the 8th and 12th centuries, when he made the incredible discovery. The hoard, weighing just under a kilogram (2.2lb), contains 22 gold objects dating from the sixth century. It includes a saucer-sized medallion, and an item representing the Roman emperor Constantine from the early fourth century. Some of the objects have runic motifs and inscriptions that may refer to the rulers of the time, but also to Norse mythology. The treasure will go on display at Denmark's Vejle Museum in April this year.
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