Amateur detectorists strike gold as hoard of 600 medieval coins worth £150,000 is declared treasure
The find, nicknamed the "Hambleden Hoard", saw them spend four days unearthing 627 coins, including 12 rare full gold nobles from the reign of Edward III at the time of the Black Death in the 1300s.
A group of amateur detectorists have hit gold after a hoard of more than 600 medieval coins worth an estimated £150,000 was officially declared treasure.
The seven men used metal detectors to make the "miracle" discovery on the Culden Faw Estate in Buckinghamshire in April 2019.
The find, nicknamed the "Hambleden Hoard", saw them spend four days unearthing 627 coins, including 12 rare full gold nobles from the reign of Edward III at the time of the Black Death in the 1300s.
It is the biggest gold and silver collection to be discovered in the UK for about a decade.
The hoard was unearthed by detectorists Andrew Winter, Dom Rapley, Eryk Wierucki, Jaroslaw Giedyna, Dariusz Fijalkowski and brothers Tobiasz and Mateusz Nowak.
The men slept in a tent next to the hole where they found the coins during the dig to prevent would-be thieves from swooping in.
The hoard was officially declared treasure at an inquest at Beaconsfield Coroners' Court last week.
Senior coroner Crispin Butler said the hoard met the criteria for treasure after reading a report by Dr Barrie Cook, a curator at the British Museum.
Mr Butler described the 12 gold nobles from 1346 to 1351 as extremely rare with only 12 known examples found during a 1963 survey.
The rest of the find — 547 silver pennies from the reigns of Edward I and II, 21 Irish pennies, 20 continental coins and 27 Scottish pennies from the reign of Alexander III, John Balliol, and Robert the Bruce — were more commonly found.
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It is now up to the museum to negotiate a settlement with the detectorists and the landowners, but it is estimated the coin collection could fetch as much as £150,000.
Speaking at the time of the find, Mateusz Nowak, a hospital cleaner from Newcastle, said: "It felt unreal.
"After finding the hoard, and then clearing the area, we had to extend the search twice more because we were finding so much.
"It was a miracle moment after moment for everyone."
Dariusz Fijalkowski, a father-of-three and machine operator from Bristol, came across the hoard after he had been "delighted" with a thimble he'd found.
He then found two silver coins before teaming up with the other men.
"When I found the coins I was shouting so much because I was so excited," he said.
"Maybe I should have stayed quiet but I was so happy. For me those coins alone were special. They are small pieces of silver and also a piece of history.
"But to see what we found in the end. I still can't believe it."
They made their discovery at an organised rally in a field near Hambleden, a village recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.
Three of the men spent an hour digging in the field without finding anything, and were on their way to another location when their detectors signalled.
On the first day they found 276 silver coins and nine gold nobles.
Some of the men had only been metal detecting for less than a year at the time.
