Posted on 08/06/2020 5:50:09 AM PDT by Red Badger
A metal detectorist found an incredible hoard of silver civil war era coins worth at least £100,000 ($130,000) in a field owned by his local pub.
Luke Mahoney, from Lindsey in Suffolk, stayed up for three nights straight after coming across more than 1,000 coins so as not to lose any to rival 'nighthawk' detectorists.
Forty-year-old Luke, who runs a metal detector shop called Joan Allen Electrics, has been hunting for treasures for the last 10 years.
He found the 'biggest hoard' of his life last month when he and pals Dan Hunt and Matt Brown were detecting in a field behind the Lindsey Rose pub, while using his trusty Minelab Equinox 800 detector.
He said: "We did some detecting in the morning and found a beautiful gold coin and a little sixpence and then we went and had lunch at the pub.
"We went back out to the fields and almost immediately I hit a signal and I pulled out this Charles I coin. Then I hit another signal, and another."
Realising he might be onto something pretty big, he pulled out his spade and got digging.
"They were everywhere," he added.
"It was pandemonium. After ten minutes of searching I hit this massive signal and I thought, 'This is it.'
"We dug and saw the pot. That feeling of scraping the dirt away and seeing the coins is indescribable."
In total, Luke found 1,078 silver hammered coins, dating back to somewhere around the 15th to the 17th century.
Following his find, Luke got in touch with the local 'Finds Liaison Officer' to make him aware of his discovery and declared it to the coroner.
Luke has spoken to several experts who reckon the coins were most likely stashed in the field by a wealthy landlord who had gone off to fight in the English civil war.
Valuation expert Nigel Mills said the haul would fetch at least £100,000 at auction.
For three days after his find, Luke and his mates waited in their cars at night to ensure it was safe from any rivals who might come and pinch it in the night.
He added: "I was up for three days solid. I didn't sleep I just sat there with my eyes open looking for nighthawks.
"I waited in my car watching all night making sure no-one tried to sneak in and take the hoard. Even now I am a bit paranoid."
PinGGG!.......................
He found Cromwell’s piggybank.
Or Charles.....................
Even though I don't understand exactly what he is talking about - I love these stories.
Even more - I love the idea that if the find is not “historic” they can keep it. And if it is historic - they will get the fair value of it.
I'm guessing that that the pub on who's property it was found will also get a fair cut of the booty.
To protect the finds, Mr Mahoney spent two sleepless nights in his car on the field watching for so-called “nighthawk” detectorists hoping to loot the coins under the cover of darkness.
Nighthawks, the term for illegal metal detectorists, have previously targeted numerous historic sites, including the Brunton Turret section of Hadrians Wall in their search for ancient artefacts.
A plow (or plough for the Brits) had cracked the jar they were in so the coins were scattered some.
And the brits sometimes have such a way with words: Detectorist.
Under the Treasure Trove Act, the landowner and the detectorist split the money. If the government wants the coins as national heritage, they have to pay fair market value as determined by a panel of experts. Amazingly, the windfall is not taxable.
Did he do the dance, or is that just for gold?
Such a law would be an enormous improvement over American law.
Under American law, the "detectorist" gets nothing, the landowner probably gets nothing, and the government gets everything.
It is an amazingly stupid law in the United States.
It puts almost all the incentives on the side of breaking and evading the law.
All I ever find are pop tops.
Used to be an elementary school across the street from my house [now a subdivision]. I’d take my MD and scan the playground, swings and stuff and find all the kids lost lunch money..................
This is cool.
I just purchased recently, a beginners metal detector and pinpointer.
This gives me motivation. ‘Pod
Parks, beaches, dirt parking lots, fairgrounds, anywhere people congregate..................
Oh crap, that reminds me - I have to declare three pop tops to Uncle Sam.
“Under the Treasure Trove Act, the landowner and the detectorist split the money. If the government wants the coins as national heritage, they have to pay fair market value as determined by a panel of experts. Amazingly, the windfall is not taxable.
Such a law would be an enormous improvement over American law.
Under American law, the “detectorist” gets nothing, the landowner probably gets nothing, and the government gets everything.
It is an amazingly stupid law in the United States.
It puts almost all the incentives on the side of breaking and evading the law.”
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In the 1960’s the Ocala Star Banner (Ocala, Florida) ran a story (with pictures) about a discovery of Spanish treasure from the waters of the Ocklawaha River. It seems fishermen came across a sunken Spanish galleon from the 1600’s. Over several days the men used diving gear to explore the galleon, and recovered numerous coins/jewelry/treasure. The newspaper printed several pictures of the recovered treasure.
Soon thereafter someone informed the discoverers they would have to give up their find to the government. However, (supposedly) the men took the treasure back to the river location where they found the galleon, and threw the treasure back into the black waters of the Ocklawaha River. The newspaper quoted the men as saying, “We had to find the treasure, now let the government find it if they want it.” They had kept secret, the location of the galleon.
“Oh crap, that reminds me - I have to declare three pop tops to Uncle Sam.”
I was up on the Switzerland Trail above Boulder where the old resort used to be sweeping the side of the hill. What do I find? Old Coke bottle caps and pop tops.
“Oh crap, that reminds me - I have to declare three pop tops to Uncle Sam.”
Back where I’m from, “pop tops” also refers to those elasticized articles of clothing girls/women would wear to cover their chest area (bra-less) to avoid strap marks on their shoulders when tanning and during summertime in general. I have at least a couple of those to declare as well. :)
It puts the incentives to leaving everything in the ground to disappear forever. Since if you are even seen with a detector on any historic site you will be approached, you don’t do it. I love metal detecting, but am pretty much limited to my own property for fear of onerous penalties. I really do think the UK has got it right; make public lands public, and give all parties an incentive to find historic artifacts for posterity.
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