Huge hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold found

Amazing discovery! Really interesting, look forward to the follow up and hopefully pictures of most of the items.

Thanks for sharing that story.
 
'Just unbelievable'

Mr Herbert, 55, of Burntwood in Staffordshire, who has been metal detecting for 18 years, came across the hoard as he searched land belonging to a farmer friend over five days in July. The exact location has not been disclosed.

"I have this phrase that I say sometimes; 'spirits of yesteryear take me where the coins appear', but on that day I changed coins to gold," he said.

"I don't know why I said it that day but I think somebody was listening and directed me to it.


How wonderful for Mr. Herbert! And, of course all the archeologists and historians and experts...but for the amateur who came across them....what a treat. I'm pleased for him.

Nice that he and his friend will be reimbursed for the estimated value of the find.

I can't imagine the wonder and joy at such a discovery for the educated and interested treasure/historical artifact seeker.


Well done!

Thanks, Beoram
 
the scrap value is around £100,000, or $160,000 (which seems a bit low to me). however it's historic, cultural and artistic value will push that into the millions. the land owner and the finder who are to share the prize will be set for life. i found the cheek piece with it's celtic scroll work fascinating, as i have a similar helmet with cheekpieces myself, tho somewhat less decorated. the horse shaped helmet boss would have been fastened on top like a hood ornament...

to put things in context a bit:
Halloween007.jpg

me wearing my helmet one halloween...
picture_006.jpg

shield, axe, sword & war dog from roughly the period of the find.
(the dog like the rest are of course replicas, not originals.)
 
... (the dog like the rest are of course replicas, not originals.)

I credit the dog as more 'original' than the other items as the breed is acknowledged as among the oldest in existence, and I think if it and its lines could be traced back to the times the hoard was buried we would find them indistinguishable from the same type of dog of the era? ;)
 
while his breed is indeed amongst our oldest companion animals, he, like the inanimate objects, was produced much more recently. he continues a long line of traditional hunting aids. lions excepted. he's happy to leave them to the ridgies....he's heck on wabbits tho.
 
Lets see, 5 kilos of gold= 11 lbs. 11 lbs= 160.41666667 troy ounces. Gold closed on the US stock market at $991.35 per troy ounce. 160.41666667 X $991.35= $159,029.065033045.
So just the gold in scrap value would be about $159,029. Probably less, as it is likely not pure gold. The archeological value, however is probably near priceless.
Why can't my metal detector find something like that? All it finds are a few modern coins and lots of old bottle tops and pull tabs. LOL
 
that's probably what the finder said, up till that 1st beep....

keep trying.

p.s. - not much buried saxon treasure in colorado tho
there might be some hidden aztec stuff,
montezuma's treasure was never found and there are rumors...
and there's always the 7 cities legend....
 
It's great hunting England, the dream of finding a treasure like that spurs you on. I was there in 2006 with some friends in Colchester, hunting farmlands that the Romans and Celts had fought over. I came out with a beautiful Celtic stater from 40 b.c. Looking forward to doing it again sometime.
 

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well, it looks like this dude payed for his metal detector a few times over ;)

oh, and the government declares that it's treasure, and "buys" it from the discoverer for fair market? nice ;)

in the states, ever since that huge haul of gold and gems off shore, the government came up with some nice laws that essentially state that stuff belongs to them. uhm, what? right. 100% tax ;) why bother looking? worse, then the government that lost it and was paid off already 100s of years ago steps forward to claim it as their own.

what ever happened to finders keepers? ;)

Bladite
 
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