
Search for Lost Hammer Led to Largest Cache of Roman Treasure Ever Found in UK - diodorus
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/search-lost-hammer-led-largest-cache-roman-treasure-ever-found-britain-180967263/?no-ist
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andrewstuart
My favorite metal detecting story of all is the guy who goes out with his
metal detector for the first time ever, hops out of the car, turns on the
metal detector behind the car and instantly finds one of the most fabulous
hoardes ever found.

"I parked up and got the metal detector out. There was an area of flat ground
behind the car, and I thought, I’ll just scan this first, before I head out
into the field. Literally about seven steps behind where I had parked, I found
them.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_torcs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_torcs)

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smcl
I'm impressed with the guy's honesty - he stopped after finding only a few
coins and phoned the police and local archaeological society. I can imagine it
would've been tempting to scoop it all up and try to find a buyer. I'm glad he
was rewarded for leaving it intact, and that he split his reward with the
farmer.

~~~
celticninja
There are UK treasure trove laws that requires a split I believe.

~~~
ljf
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Act_1996](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Act_1996)

Quote: For the purposes of the Act, 'Treasure' is defined as being:

All coins from the same find, if it consists of two or more coins, and as long
as they are at least 300 years old when found. If they contain less than 10%
gold or silver there must be at least 10 in the find for it to qualify.

Two or more prehistoric base metal objects in association with one another

Any individual (non-coin) find that is at least 300 years old and contains at
least 10% gold or silver.

Associated finds: any object of any material found in the same place as (or
which had previously been together with) another object which is deemed
treasure.

Objects substantially made from gold or silver but are less than 300 years
old, that have been deliberately hidden with the intention of recovery and
whose owners or heirs are unknown.

~~~
cletus
That Act is from 1996. The hoard was found in 1992. I, too, am impressed the
guy reported it not knowing if he’d get anything and I’m super glad he did.

~~~
ljf
There were previous rules enacted by the Treasury in the 20th C, and also
Common Law dating back at least 1000 years:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_trove#England_and_Wal...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_trove#England_and_Wales_common_law)

Also people pay attention to the act as the police will prosecute: (sorry for
Daily Mail link) [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1253991/Woman-
coin-w...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1253991/Woman-coin-
worth-2-000-garden-prosecuted-reporting-treasure.html)

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vidanay
Whenever my wife and I watch the show Time Team, we always joke that in the
UK, you can just grab a shovel, walk out into just about any random field, dig
a hole, and you will find at least _some_ sort of artifact.

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billpg
"At this time, a friend shall lose his friend’s hammer and the young shall not
know where lieth the things possessed by their fathers that their fathers put
there only just the night before around eight o’clock"

~~~
Radim
Slightly OT, isn't that Monty Python movie ageless?

In fact, like good wine, it only gets better with time. I gave The Life of
Brian another view earlier this week (it's on Youtube!) and was awed by its
prescience.

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JoeAltmaier
“The Roman Emperor wasn’t supplying Britain with new gold and silver coins,
and in light of that, the population tried to get over this sudden cutoff in
the supply of precious metals by making the existing supplies go further,”
Guest said.

It was simple counterfeiting. One of the most frequently found objects hidden
in old ruins is coin stamps - illegal counterfeiting equipment that got left
behind when folks moved out/got overrun.

They'd clip (or even melt down) old coins, cast new coins with a lot of tin
mixed in to extend it, and re-stamp an image. Or what they thought was the
image; after 1000 years old coins were largely illegible. Folks would make up
new images to match what they thought the old ones might be. So emperors
turned into badgers or whatnot. You can even date some caches by the dates
certain counterfeits started showing up?

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LiamPa
For anyone who has watched the detectorists on the BBC:

> The metal detector he’d received as a retirement gift was meant to find a
> hammer lost on the farmland.

~~~
croon
Apropos of the show (from last week):

[http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-
suffolk-42887063](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-42887063)

I feel a bit bad for these guys, but it's also very funny.

Delightful show for anyone who likes muted English humor.

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lettergram
I feel like this needs a [1999] added, as that is when the cache was found and
there are no new discoveries.

~~~
jaas
According to the article the cache was found in 1992.

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hanoz
Here's a lidar map of the cache location
[https://houseprices.io/lab/lidar/map?ref=TM1723675711](https://houseprices.io/lab/lidar/map?ref=TM1723675711)
\- right on the edge of coverage unfortunately. Lots of evidence of medieval
field systems in the surrounding area. I bet there's lots more to be found
around there, although I'm sure the area has seen plenty of detectorist
activity since this find.

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ilamont
The story mentions 98% of the coins were "clipped" but the photo only shows a
few that would fit the description.

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Pigo
Maybe it's my heritage, I'm not sure. Whenever I read about the Visigoths
winning battles or killing a Roman Emperor, there's a part of me that is like
"Hell yeah, you better watch yourself when you go strolling on Gothic
territory. Roman Empire, we'll see about that."

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andygcook
For anyone else curious, £1.75M in 1992 is about $4.7M today.

