6,251 discoveries reported to the British Museum during the first lockdown in the UK. The results from Lockdown2 are yet to be announced.
The latest news is that 63 gold coins were found in the New Forest area of Hampshire by a family - just gardening. No metal detectors involved. The miraculous haul of gold coins, dating from the late 15th or early 16th century, is one of the year's most remarkable discoveries.
The highlight of the hoard was a collection of four coins bearing the initials of the wives of Henry VIII -Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour, according to the British Museum.
John Naylor, from the Ashmolean Museum, said the coins were likely to have been hidden either by a wealthy merchant or clergy fearful of Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, in which he took control of many of the religious community’s assets.
“Some monasteries and some churches did try to hide their wealth hoping that they would be able to keep it in the long term.”
The total value of the coins - more than £14,000 in today’s money - far exceeds the average annual wage in the Tudor period, according to experts.
Ian Richardson, treasure registrar at the British Museum, said: “People during lockdown have been spending more time at home and maybe turning to pursuits that they hadn’t engaged with so much before. They were out turning up the soil and all of a sudden these coins popped out of the ground miraculously. It is quite a shocking find for them and very interesting for us.”
What are you up to this weekend? Good luck....!
OGN 2 September: When a 10 year old boy got a metal detector for his birthday in July, he was really excited and eager to try it. And, astonishingly, the first time he did, he found buried treasure in the form of a 300 year old sword on the banks of the River Blackwater near his family home in Northern Ireland. How's that for amazing good fortune?
An expert says it's a basket hilt-type sword as used by English officers and dragoons from about 1720 to 1780, or it could be a Scottish basket hilt of about 1700 to 1850.