Metal Detector Went Crazy, Found 2.5K Ancient Coins

Adam Staples knew he'd found something when his metal detector let out a beep. Soon "it was just 'beep beep, beep beep, beep beep,'" he recalls. In a farmer's field in southwest England, Staples and six friends had found a hoard of more than 2,500 silver coins that had lain in the ground for almost 1,000 years. Valued at $5.6 million and now bound for a museum, they will help shed light on the aftermath of the Norman conquest of England. "The first one was a William the Conqueror coin," Staples said at the British Museum, where the hoard will go on display in November. "It's a find-of-the-year sort of discovery. And then we got another one, (we thought) there might be five, there might be 10. And it just got bigger and bigger," he said—his biggest find in 30 years, reports the AP.

The hoard, discovered in 2019 and recently acquired by the South West Heritage Trust, totaled 2,584 silver pennies minted between 1066 and 1068, some showing conquering King William I and others his defeated Anglo-Saxon predecessor Harold II. Michael Lewis, head of the Portable Antiquities Scheme said it is "one of the most spectacular discoveries" of recent years, especially because "its story is yet to be fully unraveled." Lewis said the coin hoard will help deepen understanding of the most famous date in English history: 1066, the year William, Duke of Normandy, defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, replacing England's Saxon monarchs with Norman French rulers.

The Chew Valley Hoard, named for the rural area where it was found, has been bought for the nation with money from the charitable arm of Britain's national lottery. After going on display at the British Museum and other museums around the UK, it will have a permanent home at the Museum of Somerset in Taunton. It has taken several years for the hoard to make its way through Britain's system for handling amateur archaeological finds. An expert committee sets a value on each find, with the money divided between the owner of the land and the finders. In this case, Staples and six fellow detectorists split half of the purse. "It's like winning the lottery," said Staples, who plans to continue his treasure-hunting hobby. "I'm not going to give up now. I love it."