Incredible Metal Detecting Discoveries: True Stories of Amazing Treasures Found by Everyday People (6 page)
Authors: Mark D Smith
Image courtesy of Portable Antiquities Scheme from
London, England
Image courtesy of Portable Antiquities Scheme from
London, England
Image courtesy of Jmiall
The entire hoard was found in a bowl lined with fine
silver and gold leaf. The outside of the bowl has a brilliant
decorative pattern with vines, leaves and six different hunting
scenes depicting lionesses.
Image courtesy of vintagedept from Olen (London),
Belgium (United Kingdom)
A true historical work of art. Could you imagine finding
something like this with your metal detector?
What Was It
Worth?
Are
you sitting down for this one? The Vale of York Hoard has been valued
at £1,082,000 or $1,797,202
When
Was the Hoard Discovered?
January 6
th
2007
Where
Was the Hoard Discovered?
It was found in an unploughed field near Harrogate,
England.
Who
Found It?
David Whelan and his son Andrew. What a father and son
moment that must have made! They had both been metal detecting for
about five years before making this incredible find.
Where
Is It Now?
The hoard is sitting pretty in the British Museum or
Yorkshire museum.
Interesting
Facts About The Vale of York Hoard
The
entire hoard was buried in some type of lead container. This outer
shell helped protect the hoard. As of this writing, this is the
largest Viking hoard found in Britain since 1840.
The Staffordshire Hoard consists of right around 3,500
Anglo-Saxon gold and silver pieces that include weapon decorations,
jewelry and crosses. The total weights are 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of
gold and 1.3 kilograms (2.9 pounds) of silver.
The weapon decorations include: gold and silver sword
hilt collars and sword pommels with garnets and intricate inlays.
Three crosses were found in the hoard as well. One of
the crosses was folded and another was missing most of the decorative
settings.
The hoard also contained an amazing gold strip inscribed
in Latin. The inscription reads “SURGE DNE DISEPENTUR INIMICI
TUI ET FUGENT QUI ODERUNT TE A FACIE TUA.”
The translation reads, “Rise up Lord may your
enemies be scattered and those who hate you be driven from your
face.” What an absolutely incredible historical find, and just
think, without a metal detector these items may have never been
discovered.
Here are a few items from the hoard.
Image courtesy of David Rowan, Birmingham Museum and Art
Gallery
What Was It
Worth?
£3.285
million or $5,315,200
When
Was the Hoard Discovered?
July 5
th
2009
Where
Was the Hoard Discovered?
In a recently plowed field near Lichfield,
Staffordshire, England
Who
Found It?
Over a period of five days, one lucky individual by the
name of Terry Herbert found enough gold items to fill 244 bags. At
this point he contacted the authorities and Fred Johnson, the current
land owner allowed the field to be excavated.
Image courtesy of Portable Antiquities Scheme from
London, England
Terry Herbert looking over some of the hoard.
Two more excavations were carried out in 2010 and 2012
producing even more historical finds.
Where
Is It Now?
Pieces of the hoard are now scattered across various
museums all over Britain. At the time of this writing, the following
museums had individual pieces of this hoard on display:
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
The British Museum
Potteries Museum & Art Gallery
Stoke-On-Trent
Interesting
Facts About The Staffordshire Hoard
This
hoard was so significant, that historians have had to re-examine
their earlier theories of Anglo-Saxon England. The entire hoard and
location were initially kept secret in order to prevent thieves from
disturbing the fragile archaeological finds.
This
hoard was originally known as the Southeast Leicestershire Treasure,
but it is now being called the Hallaton Treasure. It consists of o
ver
5,294 silver and gold Roman coins, jewelry, a decorative mount, a
silver bowl, two ingots, over 7,000 animal bone pieces, a Roman
Parade helmet originally covered in silver sheeting and gold leaf.
Inside the helmet were 7 cheekpieces. Check this stuff out!
Image courtesy of Portable Antiquities Scheme from
London, England
Coins
from the hoard
The
Roman Parade helmet was removed in what is known as “block
format.” The archeologists removed a large square chunk of
earth with the helmet still inside. This gave them the opportunity to
properly conserve the piece. It took the British Museum 9 years to
properly remove and conserve the entire helmet.
Image courtesy of Portable Antiquities Scheme from
London, England
The parade
helmet
Image courtesy of Prioryman
One
of the cheekpieces found with the hoard
Archeologists believe that the area was a shrine of some
sort where animals were being offered. 97% of all the animal bones
found were from pigs, and most of them were buried whole.
What Was It
Worth?
The
value of this hoard is still being determined. The helmet alone has
been valued at £650,000 or $1,081,795.