NS: Silver and gold discovered in record 10million pounds Jersey coin hoard
London, July 9 (ANI): Silver and gold has been discovered by experts working on the record 10million-pound coin hoard that was found in Jersey last week.
The haul contains between 30,000 and 50,000 Celtic coins and was revealed by metal detector enthusiasts Reg Mead and Richard Miles.
They are currently in one solid mass and work is underway to find out to evaluate what else is in the find.
"As we unravel the story behind the hoard we are beginning to make some very exciting discoveries," the Daily Mail quoted Neil Mahrer, conservator with Jersey Heritage as saying.
The coins are believed to date from the year 50BC while the armies of Julius Caesar were advancing north-westwards through France, driving the tribal communities towards the coast.
Some of them would have most probably crossed the sea to Jersey, finding a safe place of refuge away from Caesar's campaigns.
The only place to hide their wealth was to bury it in a secret place.
Mr Mead, 70, and Mr Miles, a customs officer in his 40s, suspected treasure was in the area three decades ago, when they heard rumours that a farmer had accidentally found some silver pieces on his land.
After a series of largely unsuccessful forays in the area, they were able to unearth a stash of 120 coins in February.
"Richard found the first one and it was amazing - when you see him raising his hand above his head (saying) "got one"," Mead, a grandfather who lives with wife Ruth in St Clement, Jersey, said.
The pair used a powerful metal detector known as a deepseeker to search for more treasure in the field and finally got lucky last week.
"The machine picked up a really strong signal - so we immediately got in touch with professional archaeologists," Mead said.
"They started digging and we could not believe how many coins there were. All of them were stuck together. I have been searching for things like this since 1959 and never found anything on this scale before.
"We had been searching that land for 30 years," he said.
After four days of careful digging the hoard was hauled to the surface by crane. It will now be subject of an inquest to determine ownership rights.
"I am absolutely numb at the moment. To find one haul of coins in a lifetime is rare, but to find two is just unheard of," Mead said.
The location of the find is being kept secret.
"The find is very significant. It will add a huge amount of new information, not just about the coins themselves, but the people who were using them," Dr Philip de Jersey, a former Celtic coin expert at Oxford University, added. (ANI)
