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Massive Hoard of Silver Pennies From Norman Conquest Valued at $5.6M
ARTnews ^ | October 24, 2024 | Karen K. Ho

Posted on 10/24/2024 5:00:27 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Massive Hoard of Silver Pennies From Norman Conquest Valued at $5.6M

A pile of 1,000-year-old silver pennies from the Chew Valley hoard, which was recently discovered by metal detectorists in Somerset. The treasure sheds new light on the post-Conquest period and the impact of the Norman invasion on England. The pennies were acquired by the South West Heritage Trust for £4.4 million ($5.6 million USD). The hoard of pennies is now the "highest value treasure on record". Courtesy of the British Museum A massive hoard of 1,000-year-old silver pennies found by a group of people learning how to use metal detectors in 2019 were recently valued at $5.6 million (£4.3 million), making it the highest valued treasure in England.

In January 2019, seven people with metal detectors “on a speculative trip to a soggy field” found the 2,584 coins in the Chew Valley area of Bath and North East Somerset. The group spent four to five hours digging up the hoard and were not deterred by a massive thunderstorm. “We didn’t leave the site until we thought we’d got all the coins,” Adam Staples, one of the finders, told the Derby Telegraph in 2019. “We were soaking wet by the time we finished.”

A press release from the British Museum called the pennies, also known as the Chew Valley hoard for where they were found, “one of the most remarkable finds reported under the Treasure Act 1996”.

The hoard consists of King Harold II pennies, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, and William the Conqueror coins from the time of the Norman Conquest (1066–1068 AD). The group first reported the find to a local liasons officer as part of the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme, which records archaeological finds made by members of public and also handles local reports of items that fall under the Treasure Act.

On October 22, the charity South West Heritage Trust announced it had acquired the “unprecedented” hoard of silver pennies through major funding, including grants from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Art Fund.

The charity was awarded a grant of more than £4.4 million ($5.7 million) by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and £150,000 ($195,000) from Art Fund for the acquisition and associated engagement project. A press release from the British Museum noted the South West Heritage Trust “will be able to apply for a further grant at a later date for an engagement programme and the permanent display of the hoard at the Museum of Somerset.”

“It’s fantastic, unbelievable,” Staples told The Guardian on October 21. “It was a feeling of amazement. To find one coin was great. Then within a few minutes a few more, then 10 coins, 50 coins. It was ever increasing. And your emotions are just multiplying. It has definitely changed my life. It was like holding history in your hand. And, obviously, the financial side of it is brilliant as well.”

Half the proceeds will go to the seven finders while the other half will go to the landowner of the field, who the Guardian reported is not being named. “We all agreed to share it and we’re all happy with the agreement,” said Staples, who runs an auction house specializing in ancient coins.

In 2019, Staples told the Daily Telegraph that if the coins were declared an official treasure, the proceeds would “totally change” life for him and his partner Lisa Grace. “We will be able to buy our own property – it’s freedom!”

The coins will go on display at the British Museum on November 26 before being exhibited at other museums in the UK, with their final destination at the Museum of Somerset.


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Business/Economy; History
KEYWORDS: chewvalleyhoard; coins; epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; middleages; normanconquest; silver
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To: Red Badger

my kid found a 1812 large penny 2nd day out with his detector by a old stone wall on our property.


21 posted on 10/25/2024 7:28:33 AM PDT by ABN 505 (Right is right if nobody is right, and wrong is wrong if everybody is wrong. ~Archbishop Fulton John)
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To: ABN 505

Being in Florida, our acidic soil dissolves coins and other metals rather quickly.
I’ve found a few coins at parks, playgrounds, etc, but never anything historic.

Plus our local beaches are sieved every night by a tractor pulling a large screening device, so anything left on the beach by tourists is removed by the next day.

I envy the Brits and Europeans because they have thousands of years of history buried to discover................


22 posted on 10/25/2024 7:34:32 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: ABN 505

https://www.usacoinbook.com/coins/161/large-cents/classic-head/1812-P/all-varieties/


23 posted on 10/25/2024 7:38:29 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: nickcarraway; SunkenCiv
Additional information from the linked article in the "Derby Live" website:


Derby couple find £5 million treasure hoard

"Coins in the 1,000-year-old hoard show signs of being illicitly tampered with.Experts say this is evidence that the person striking the coins was avoiding paying a fee to obtain an up-to-date design."

"Gareth Williams, a curator at the British Museum, said that making false coinage risked the severe penalty of having a hand cut off, at the time.
"The hoard shines fresh light on the aftermath of the Norman invasion and shows evidence of early tax evasion in Britain."

"Mr Williams said: "We can see from these coins that that wasn't a deterrent. It may even be that it was buried under a tree to mark the spot and the tree blows down in the storm and the person can't find it there."" "Evidence showed that whoever buried the hoard was involved in some way in the Battle of Hastings", he added."
"The coins would have bought a flock of more than 500 sheep and so belonged to "someone relatively wealthy"
."
It is the largest Norman treasure find since 1833."


Wonder what evidence led him to conclude that who ever did this was involved in the battle of Hastings. While burying valuables in a field or under a tree does not seem the best way to do your banking, neither is having your silver in a bank where some derivative trade failure results in demand for physical delivery and they use your silver leaving you with a paper promissory note!
24 posted on 10/25/2024 7:40:12 AM PDT by Pete from Shawnee Mission ( )
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To: Pete from Shawnee Mission

Wow, nice pix!


25 posted on 10/25/2024 7:53:05 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: Red Badger

I wouldn’t mind a horde of pennies if I could get $89.00 each for them! Thanks.


26 posted on 10/25/2024 8:04:46 AM PDT by ABN 505 (Right is right if nobody is right, and wrong is wrong if everybody is wrong. ~Archbishop Fulton John)
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