SEVEN men were left shocked to discover a set of rare gold coins worth £150k in a field.
The treasure – found in Buckinghamshire – is the biggest gold and silver collection discovered in the UK for around a decade.
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The face value of the coins would be a little over £6 in today’s money but the estimates of their worth range as high as £150,000.
Their lucky find, dubbed the “Hambleden Hoard,” includes 12 rare gold nobles from the reign of Edward III.
The men – more used to digging up shotgun shells and thimbles than treasure – were astonished to find coin after coin on the Culden Faw Estate in April 2019.
Over four days they discovered 627 coins – including 12 ultra-rare full gold nobles from the time of the Black Death.
The hoard was unearthed by Andrew Winter, Dom Rapley, Eryk Wierucki, Jaroslaw Giedyna, Dariusz Fijalkowski and brothers Tobiasz and Mateusz Nowak.
They even slept in a tent by the hole to stop thieves during the dig.
At an inquest at Beaconsfield Coroners Court, senior coroner Crispin Butler said the hoard met the criteria for treasure after reading a report by Dr Barrie Cook, a curator at the British Museum.
Mr Butler described the 12 gold nobles from 1346 to 1351 as extremely rare with only 12 known examples found during a 1963 survey.
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The rest of the hoard – 547 silver pennies from the reigns of Edward I and II, 21 Irish pennies, 20 continental coins and 27 Scottish pennies from the reign of Alexander III, John Balliol, and Robert the Bruce – were more commonly found.
It will now be left for the museum to negotiate a settlement with the finders and landowners, none of whom was present at the hearing.
Speaking at the time of the find, Mateusz Nowak, a hospital cleaner from Newcastle, said: “It felt unreal.
“After finding the hoard, and then clearing the area, we had to extend the search twice more because we were finding so much.
It was a miracle moment after moment for everyone.
Mateusz Nowak
Dad-of-three Dariusz Fijalkowski from Bristol came across the hoard after he had been “delighted” with a thimble he’d found.
He then found two silver coins before teaming up with the other men and added: “Special for me was two silver coins.
He added: “When I found the coins I was shouting so much because I was so excited.
“Maybe I should have stayed quiet but I was so happy. For me those coins alone were special. They are small pieces of silver and also a piece of history.
“But to see what we found in the end. I still can’t believe it.”
He was gobsmacked at the find, saying: “I came away to the rally for a rest because I have three young children. It’s safe to say it was not rest. I can still feel the pressure now. It’s incredible.”
The find was made at an organised rally which was held on a field near Hambleden, a village recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.
Pals Andrew, Tobiasz and Mateusz spent an hour digging on a field without finding anything, and were on their way to another location when their detectors signalled.
Andrew, a forklift and crane driver from Blyth, said his machine was emitting a code which suggested they had detected a hammered silver coin – so he started digging.
The trio turned over a clod of earth which contained two coins, and could see more in the hole.
It happened around at the same time as then-stranger Dariusz, a machine operator from Bristol found two silver coins.
Under the rules of detecting and treasure finding, anything over three coins is considered a ‘hoard’ – meaning it has to be declared to organisers.
The area was cleared and claimed jointly by the team who were then left to work alone.
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.
Some of them have been doing the hobby for less than a year at the time.
Anni Byard, finds liaison officer for the areas was called to oversee the excavation and the location of each coin was painstakingly plotted on a grid.
At the time the men said it would later be independently evaluated before being sold, with the value split with the landowner.
Rare coins and valuable notes can be worth tens of thousands of times their face value.
So it’s worth digging around in your spare change to see if you have any.
This man was left stunned after finding a rare £2 coin worth a staggering amount.
Meanwhile, here’s a run-down of some rare and valuable Olympic 50p coins.
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