We're Making A Movie …
And Your Finds Could Feature In It ...

Prompted by the milestone of half-a-million finds recorded on the UK PAS Database, coins and
antiquities dealer, TimeLine Originals, has announced plans to make a video celebrating some of the many detector finds that have passed through its offices and sales catalogues during the past twenty years.

As well as enriching the cultural life of Britain, and providing national and regional museums
with exhibits that draw crowds and generate popular interest in history, detectorists also
perform an equally important service every time a lost coin or artefact is returned to the nation’s
economy. Irrespective of its collector interest, the lowliest metallic find has a small monetary
value that is recovered for re-use the moment it returns from the soil. TimeLine wants to use
tens of thousands of those often neglected finds as backgrounds in some of the scenes in its
video to help in getting across the message that detecting benefits the economy in other ways
besides recovering major Treasure Troves.

Brett Hammond, TimeLine CEO, explains: “We have encountered many detectorists from
across Britain who have made high value finds, and we’ve helped a lot to report their
discoveries and to follow the procedures through to eventual substantial pay-outs. We have
also alerted finders to overlooked coins and artefacts of lesser but nevertheless respectable
values that they had dropped into unsorted boxes. For example, a finder came to Upminster
with a single silver coin he had identified in an old Seaby catalogue as a scarce piece worth
several hundred pounds. Unfortunately I had the job of pointing out to him that his find, although
genuine, was of such poor numismatic grade that its collector value was barely a tenth of what
he had expected.

He was about to depart an unhappy client when I asked if I might glance through a box of what
he described as his “scrap collection” which I had spotted in the boot of his car. As I spilled out
fragments of lead, copper and bronze my eyes lit up when I came upon a group of blackened
discs, each barely fifteen millimetres in diameter, and each instantly recognized by me as a
pictorial medieval lead token. The client went home satisfied, and with a respectable fistful of
cash and slightly less scrap than when he had arrived.”

TimeLine has added unrecognized or unexpected value to detectorists’ finds in other ways.
Cleaning, conservation, research and superb presentation in an art quality catalogue have
enhanced finds such as:

- an excessively rare pair of 7th century Irish Celtic enamelled roundels found in Norfolk.
Publicity and collector-interest generated in part by our press releases and photography
ultimately resulted in a hammer price of £21,000 at a TimeLine Auctions sale.

- a circa 10th century drinking horn mount that exhibited few signs of its surface decoration when
initially recovered by a Shropshire detectorist. After professional cleaning and conservation at
Upminster it eventually sold for £2,700.

- an enamelled heraldic mount, researched by TimeLine staff and identified as bearing the arms
of a 14th century Lincolnshire family. Bought for £3,600 in a TimeLine Auctions sale.

Brett Hammond again: “Anyone who glances at our catalogue archive will see high quality
photographs, detailed descriptions and hammer prices, of many other coins and antiquities to
which our expertise added value for the finder’s benefit. I’m sure we can discover even more
if detectorists allow us to look into their unsorted finds boxes. Bring your uncleaned and un-
researched finds to Upminster; or take them to any fair where TimeLine has booked a table and
we will be happy to give you our expert opinions free of charge”. Or contact TimeLine to arrange a time and place to meet one of our experts.

Coroner Geoff Fell, who was conducting a treasure trove inquest, told them to "sort out their differences".

The seal was found buried in mud on a farmer's land near Catterick in North Yorkshire by treasure hunter Carl Richardson.

But fellow enthusiast Richard Hunter insisted he was with Mr Richardson at the time and they had previously made a "gentlemen's agreement" to share the rewards of their labours.

The oval silver seal matrix, dating from the 13th or 14th century, is now being looked after by the British Museum in London.

" It's not up to me to decide ownership " Coroner Geoff Fell

It shows Thomas Becket and three knights, one of which is holding a sword above his head.

Becket was made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162 and was at odds with King Henry over the rights of the Church.

He was assassinated by followers of the king in 1170 and venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church.

The seal was found in a field owned by John Wray, who had given Mr Richardson permission to use the land.

Mr Hunter, from Peterlee in County Durham, told Coroner Geoff Fell he had met Mr Richardson a few weeks before the seal was found and they had been on a few outings together.

But Mr Richardson, from Coxhoe in County Durham, who had been metal-detecting for 20 years, denied that Mr Hunter had been with him when he uncovered the seal in October 2006.

Mr Fell said the case would be referred to the valuation panel of the British Museum but told the two men that they should aim to resolve their differences.

"It's not up to me to decide ownership," he said.

"If you cannot come to an agreement, then lawyers may have to be involved and that will be costly."

It was declared as a treasure at a court hearing in Harrogate on Thursday.

North Yorkshire coroner Geoff Fell said: "Treasure cases are always interesting, but this is one of the most exciting cases that I have ever had to rule on.

"I'm delighted that such an important Viking hoard has been discovered in North Yorkshire. We are extremely proud of our Viking heritage in this area."

'Astonishing discovery'

Metal detectorists David and Andrew Whelan, who uncovered the treasures, said the find was a "thing of dreams".

The pair, from Leeds, said the hoard was worth about £750,000 as a conservative estimate.

They told the BBC News website: "We've been metal detecting for about five years; we do it on Saturdays as a hobby.

"We ended up in this particular field, we got a really strong signal from the detector... Eventually we found this cup containing the coins and told the antiquity authority.

"We were astonished when we finally discovered what it contained."

The ancient objects come from as far afield as Afghanistan in the East and Ireland in the West, as well as what is now Russia, Scandinavia and continental Europe.

The hoard contains 617 silver coins and 65 other objects, including a gold arm-ring and a gilt silver vessel.

Dr Jonathan Williams, keeper of prehistory in Europe at the British Museum, said: "[The cup] is beautifully decorated and was made in France or Germany at around AD900.

"It is fantastically rare - there are only a handful of others known around the world. It will be stunning when it is fully conserved."

The collection, found in Yorkshire using metal detectors, consists of some 600 precious metal objects including coins, jewellery and other ornaments.

Experts believe the hoard may have been buried by a wealthy Viking after AD928 during a turbulent period in the UK's history.

Jonathan Williams of the British Museum said the find was "phenomenal".

Metal detectorists David and Andrew Whelan uncovered the treasures at a site near Harrogate, North Yorkshire, in January 2007.

Andrew Whelan told the BBC News website: "We've been metal detecting for about five years; we do it on Saturdays as a hobby.

"We ended up in this particular field, we got a really strong signal from the detector... Eventually we found this cup containing the coins and told the antiquity authority.

"We were astonished when we finally discovered what it contained."

'Spectacular find'

After the team reported their discovery, archaeologists began to carry out the painstaking process of excavating the objects.

The conservation work revealed that the hoard was one of the most significant to have been found in Britain for 150 years.

Dr Williams, keeper of prehistory in Europe at the British Museum, said: "The objects are absolutely spectacular."

Viking turmoil

Experts believe that the goods may have been buried sometime after the year AD928, during a period of unrest in Britain. At this point in history, the Christian English, based in the south, were pushing north to conquer the kingdom of Northumbria, ruled by the pagan Vikings.

Dr Williams said: "The Vikings would have been on the run, and we speculate that a wealthy Viking would have buried his treasures in the ground at some point during this turbulent period."

Researchers hope the objects will give them valuable information about the history of Britain during the early tenth century.

The hoard, once declared a Treasure by the 1996 Treasure Act, will go forward for valuation by the Treasure Valuation Committee for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

Dr Williams said that the British Museum and the York Museums Trust would be looking to raise the finds to purchase the collection so it could eventually go on public display.

The proceeds would be split between the finders and landowners.

The coins were collected over a six-year period at an undisclosed area of Llanddona beach.

The Llangefni inquest heard it is a mystery how they ended up there.

It is an offence not to report discovered treasure to a coroner.

On Thursday, North West Wales deputy coroner Nicola Jones considered more than 600 coins which were part of a larger haul discovered by enthusiasts Graham Williams from Northop Hall in Flintshire and Chris Andrews from Guilden Sutton, Chester.

In all, they have discovered more than 900 coins at the secret location.

During one visit the men were walking back to their car empty-handed when Mr Williams' metal detector picked up a signal. They began digging and found 311 coins.

An expert from the National Museum of Wales confirmed the silver pennies were of the same type - mostly from England between 1272 and 1307, but also from Scotland, Ireland and Europe.

Mr Andrews, a semi-retired nuclear physicist, said: "We've always been lucky on our trips to Llanddona.

"Sometime we've found them in groups, sometimes singly, and we still don't really know how they got there."

Chris Andrews
Mr Andrews said some of the coins got his heart "pounding"

Coins were usually found along with something else which suggested how they got there, he added, but the Llanddona coins were a mystery.

"We've found around 970 in total, but the sandbank has moved over the last winter to cover the spot and we've failed to find anything else there recently."

"They aren't worth a great deal of money but as a scientist I am fascinated as to how they got there," he said.

"The coins are sandwiched between a layer of sand and a layer of packed shells - it's a mystery how they got there."

In a separate inquest the coroner decided a thirteenth century silver brooch, medieval brooch fragment and a post-medieval signet ring found near Beaumaris were all treasure trove.

Courtesy of BBC news online.

The charity has helped the museum to purchase a 145-piece hoard of Bronze Age weapons found at Eaton, Norwich.

The museum has also acquired an Anglo Saxon sword pyramid used to protect weapons, found at Shouldham in Norfolk.

David Barrie, director of The Art Fund said: "It's incredibly exciting when pieces like these are dug up from the ground after being buried for thousands of years.

"It's great news that these three important finds have been purchased by Norwich Castle Museum where the public will be able to share in the excitement."

Norwich Castle Museum said they believed the gold bracelets made from metal from Ireland, Wales and possibly Scotland could have been a religious sacrifice by a wealthy man or they could have been hidden in the ground.

The Bronze Age weapons probably belonged to a metal worker and were intended for melting down or reforging.

The Anglo Saxon sword pyramids were used like scabbards or harnesses to carry and protect the weapons.

Courtesy of BBC news online.

The hoard includes gold hair rings, bracelets, weapons and a bronze razor.

It is going on display at Newcastle University's Museum of Antiquities until the end of June.

It is intended that it will be exhibited to the public permanently from 2009 at the forthcoming Great North Museum.

A Bronze Age razor - the first to be found in the county - was among the objects discovered.

This suggests men living in the area between about 1000 and 800BC were clean-shaven.

Gold lock rings, thought to have been hair decorations, as well as bracelets, rings, pins and axe heads were also found after Mr Minns was given permission by a local farmer to take the detector on to his land.

However, his discovery arose after he re-checked the hole and discovered an axe-head.

“Hoards from the late Bronze Age containing such a variety of objects in such good condition are very rare in the north of England”

Lindsay Allason-Jones
Newcastle University

Enthusiasts will also be offering advice on how to get involved.

The exhibition, entitled Our Treasured Past - 30 Years of Metal Detecting in the Isle of Man, opens next weekend and runs until 5 March.

Allison Fox, curator of archaeology for Manx National Heritage said: "The contribution that metal detecting has made to our understanding of the Isle of Man's past is an important one.

"There are artefacts discovered in the national collections which help us to illustrate the Story of Mann and there are items reported to us that remain with their finder or owner to care for.

"This is a great opportunity to see some of the items that have emerged from the soil or sand through metal detecting over the past 30 years."

Courtesy of BBC news online.

Culture Secretary David Lammy praised the "responsible approach" of amateur metal detectorists in reporting finds.

He said they were the "unsung heroes of the UK's heritage".

Speaking at the British Museum on Wednesday, he said: "Thanks to the responsible approach they display in reporting finds and the systems we have set up to record them, more archaeological material is available for all to see at museums or to study online.

"It is through the work of metal detectorists that we are encouraging the next generation to be interested in our history."

Roman dog

The number of "treasure finds" - gold and silver items more than 300 years old - is also up from 426 in the previous year to 506. Significant finds in 2005/2006 include a series of Viking silver bracelets buried in Cheshire and a fourth century Roman copper-alloy dog found on the Isle of Wight.

Children's illustrator Alan Rowe said the Roman dog figurine was the "nicest object" he had unearthed in 25 years of making finds. Because the dog, worth up to £600, is made of copper-alloy and not gold or silver it does not qualify as a treasure find.

Under the Treasure Act 1996, people who find gold and silver objects more then 300 years old have a legal obligation to report them to the authorities. Despite the act, thousands of items claiming to be treasure appear on auction websites.

Many of these items were fake, a spokesman for the National Council for Metal Detecting said.

Courtesy of BBC news online.

It was unearthed recently on the outskirts of London by Bill Robson, who handed it to the Museum of London.

The belt is rare because it is in a style normally found in Spain.

Faye Simpson, community archaeologist at the museum, said: "This buckle is as beautiful as anything you could hope to find on Bond Street and would originally have been gilded - probably in gold or tin.

"This is a really exciting find, which has come to light through responsible metal detecting."

Courtesy of BBC news online.

Rare coin breaks auction record

A buyer has paid £460,000 at auction for a rare medieval gold coin which has broken the record for a British coin.

The Edward III double florin, known as a double leopard and with a face value of six shillings, was circulated from December 1343 until July 1344.

It is only the third known surviving coin, with two others found in the River Tyne in 1857. The price paid at Spink auction house, which included buyer's premium, was three times the estimate of £150,000.

Roman treasure discovered on farm

Farm contractors have unearthed 2,000 Roman coins beneath a field at a farm near Carmarthen.

The coins, which date from late Roman times, have been categorised as "treasure".

They contain a small amount of silver, but experts have not yet put a value on the find.

The coins are thought to have been lying just 12 inches beneath the surface of a field.

The Romans left Wales in 410AD, having first arrived in 47AD. Carmarthen was a Roman settlement from the first century AD.

Coins of the late Roman period feature the standard head and tails, with a Roman emperor on the head and a goddess - of fortune, hope or chastity - on the reverse.

The farmer, on whose land the find was made, said: "There are lots of wild rumours flying about but I don't really want to say anything.

"The coins are at the museum now, and we are waiting to hear what happens next," he added.

Edward Besley, of the National Museum of Wales, in Cardiff confirmed that the coins were at the museum and were being cleaned, examined and catalogued.

He said: "When our investigations are complete, I will submit a report to the coroner who will then decide when to hold an inquest."

Courtesy of BBC news online.

Roman treasure to stay in Bristol

Thousands of Roman coins will go on permanent display in Bristol after the city's museum was awarded £22,500 of lottery money.

Since the discovery, Bristol Museum has been seeking cash to put the copper and silver alloy coins on display.

Grants totalling more than £40,000 have now been raised to keep the coins, which date back to AD 270, in Bristol.

"We are delighted that the coin hoard is able to remain in Bristol and are able to give the public access to one of the most exciting finds in this area," said Kate Brindley, director of Bristol's museums, galleries and archives.

Courtesy of BBC news online.

Bronze Age find is treasure trove

A hoard of Bronze Age artefacts which had been discovered in a garden has been declared treasure trove.

The items which include spears, sword parts and axe heads were discovered in Shane Targett's garden in Eaton, near Norwich, last April.

On Wednesday, Coroner Bill Armstrong described the artefacts as a "significant and substantial find".

The Norwich coroner declared the hoard a treasure trove because it was money or coins, gold, silver, or bullion, which was hidden or concealed and has been found by accident.

Mr Targett, an amateur archaeologist, said: "It's just the end of a long and busy week, you stagger down your own back garden and you're pulling out pieces of history.

"The edges were still sharp, in fact on the spears you could have easily cut yourself."

The Castle Museum in Norwich is expected to place a bid to house the collection.

Courtesy of BBC news online.

Nottingham's oldest coin
A rare Norman silver penny minted in Nottingham in the 11th century has been bought by Nottingham City Council.

The coin featuring the bust of William the Conqueror, after he had been crowned King William I, has been added to the major collection of coins and medals at Nottingham Castle.

Gold ring treasure found in field

A metal detector enthusiast has told
an inquest how he uncovered a 1,200 year
old gold ring in a field near Mold.

Welding engineer David Robinson from Garden City, Deeside, discovered the artefact, thought to date from the 9th or 10th Century, in October 2004.

The ring was formally declared treasure by the coroner and will now go to a panel in London for valuation.

The inquest was told the National Museum and Galleries in Cardiff was interested in buying the ring.

The inquest in Wrexham heard that Mr Robinson uncovered the ring at Nercwys near Mold while out metal detecting with his friend Philip Rogers of Connah's Quay.

The enthusiasts had found Victorian pennies and halfpennies in the field before.

But then Mr Robinson's detector picked up strong signals and the ring was found about four to five inches below the field's surface.

'Pure gold'

"On closer examination I realised what it was. I said 'I think I've found a gold ring and Phil said 'Yes, that looks like gold".

Mr Robinson, who told the inquest that he was interested in Welsh history and had always wanted to find something old, said he had agreed with the landowner Richard Jones that they would share any proceeds.

The inquest heard the artefact was later sent for examination to Cardiff's National Museum where experts found the ring, which weighs 5.63 grammes, was between 94% to 96% pure gold.

Museum experts compared the ring with similar objects and on the balance of probability they had dated it from the early medieval period during the ninth and tenth centuries.

Declaring the artefact treasure, deputy coroner for north east Wales John Gittins said it would now go to a valuations committee in London.

Outside court Mr Robinson, who goes metal detecting once or twice a month, said it was the first time he had found anything of real worth.

He said he had "no idea" as to the ring's value.

A medieval gold ingot, found by Robert Hulse at Trefor near Llangollen while digging potatoes in his garden, was also declared treasure at the inquest.

Courtesy of BBC news online.

State is taking 'Viking treasure'

The property of a Viking raider has been seized again, this time by the state.

A silver ingot and part of a brooch thought to date from the Viking era, have been declared 'treasure trove' after a court hearing.

The items, which date from the ninth century, were found in 2002 on the banks of the River Bann near Kilrea by a metal detector enthusiast.

They are 'treasure trove' because any silver object more than 300 years old is automatically in that category.

Although the bronze brooch part would not be of the same value, because it was found alongside the ingot it means they are both likely to be historically valuable - so it was declared treasure trove too.

Cormac Burke from the Ulster Museum said the place along the river where they were discovered is a well known crossing point and the Bann was a well known thoroughfare.

He said that it does not mean there was necessarily a Viking site near by, and that the items were probably dropped.

The Vikings, when not pillaging, founded Ireland's first towns, three of which (Dublin, Waterford and Limerick) were cities by the time the Normans arrived.

The Scandinavian warriors featured in Irish life from about 800 to 1169, but failed to conquer much of Ireland because they were drawn into Irish dynastic disputes.

Courtesy of BBC news online.

Bronze Age hoard's first display

A hoard of Bronze Age gold buried in a field near Wrexham for 3,000 years is to go on public display
next month.

The Burton collection of 14 pieces of gold and bronze jewellery and ceramic tools cost the National Museum and Galleries of Wales (NMGW) £85,000.

Included is what an expert from the NMGW said was a unique gold pendant as well as a gold wire-twisted bracelet, of which there is only one other example surviving in a museum in France.

These and the other bronze and ceramic items are believed to date from the Middle Bronze age, between 1350 and 1100 BC.

Adam Gwilt, later prehistorian at the museum in Cardiff said it was probable the jewellery was worn by its wealthy owners before being buried as some kind of gift to the gods.

"What seems to have happened is that this hoard was carefully buried in the ground in the flooded river valley of the river Alyn.

"At the moment, there's no known evidence of settlements in the fields around where the hoard was found.

"It would suggest that the people were making a religious statement - maybe here it was about an important communication route".

Mr Gwilt said the importance of the hoard's discovery was that it also showed that in the Bronze Age, north east Wales and the Cheshire basin was an area of great wealth with people having access to gold - probably from Irish or Welsh sources

The remaining half will be divided between the three men who discovered it.

The treasure will go on show for the first time at Wrexham Museum next month alongside the Mold Cape, which experts have now dated to an earlier period of the Bronze Age, and which was found in a burial mound in 1833.

It will then be returned to Cardiff to go on permanent display

The museum has been able to buy the Burton hoard with the help of a £21,000 grant from the National Art Collections Fund, another £35,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and a grant from The Goldsmiths' Company.

Courtesy of BBC news online.