back to article Multimillion-pound hoard of 50BC GOLD PIECES found in Jersey

Two tenacious metal-detector enthusiasts have unearthed a record hoard of Iron Age coins in a field in Jersey. Conservation work starts on Iron Age coin hoard Credit: Jersey Heritage Reg Mead and Richard Miles went over the same area with their detectors over and over again for the last 30 years before finally finding …

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  1. horsham_sparky
    Joke

    dammit!

    I knew I left them somewhere! :-p

    Guess this is the early version of loosing your change down the back of sofa :-)

    1. Captain DaFt

      Re: dammit!

      Thus the real implications of this find; the site of the world's oldest couch!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ahhh Jersey

    Helping the rich with tax avoidance for over 2000 years

    1. thenim
      Thumb Up

      Re: Ahhh Jersey

      oh c'mon, who doesn't have a sense of humour!!!

  3. Paul Renault

    If only...

    ...that had been a multimillion-pound hoard, instead of a multimillion-pound hoard... It would really have been a sterling find!

    Oh well.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Whoever it's determined actually 'owns' this find, if it's worth £10m I would hope that the 2 guys that actually made the discovery come out of it with at least £1m each - they did the right thing when it would have been very easy just to dig it up and sell it illegally. That sort of thing deserves to be rewarded.

    1. NightFox

      Agree with the sentiment, but there's a big difference between what a find is 'worth', and that money actually becoming real enough to give someone, especially if you're putting the hoard on display. I somehow doubt that Jersey Heritage will have a couple of million in their slush fund as a 'thank you'.

    2. Andy Fletcher

      "deserves to be rewarded"

      If a free pass to the local museum is worth more to them than a yacht, private jet and Veyron, then I guess they will be. I'm pretty sure I don't get it.

  5. joeW
    Thumb Up

    Fair play to the two lads.

  6. Matthew Smith

    Good find

    So thats where the RBS backup got to.

  7. James Hughes 1

    Searching over the same field for 30 years?

    What made them do that? Or have I misread?

    1. horsham_sparky
      Alert

      Re: Searching over the same field for 30 years?

      maybe someone saw a leprechaun and they were searching for his pot'o'gold..

      guess they found it :-)

      1. Craig 28
        Trollface

        Re: Searching over the same field for 30 years?

        Or perhaps they're a gay version of Howard and Marina from Last of the Summer Wine? What could be more innocuous than two friends innocently probing a field in search of ancient artifacts. And I don't mean Marina.

    2. Piers

      Re: Searching over the same field for 30 years?

      Apparently farmers had been finding the odd coin in the area for some time - so they kept going over it in case there was a larger stash there somewhere. And so there was...

    3. Steve Evans
      Joke

      Re: Searching over the same field for 30 years?

      It's only a small island and you can't dig the rocky bits.

    4. ldm
      IT Angle

      Re: Searching over the same field for 30 years?

      See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-18579875 for more details.

      1. Trokair 1
        Coat

        Re: Searching over the same field for 30 years?

        Soil actually shifts over time giving you the ability to find things one year that you couldn't the previous with a metal detector.

        Mines the one with the Garrets Pro Pointer and White's manual in the pocket.

    5. Paul Bruneau

      Re: Searching over the same field for 30 years?

      As a former metal detector enthusiast, I can tell you that one can go over a particular area many times and find new items each time. The varying moisture level of the soil, the randomness of how one swings the detector, and probably the huge size of the area ensures that new finds are always being found.

      Of course, here in the states, we don't find things such as this--we are happy to find a 1950's silver dime!

  8. ukgnome
    Pint

    Metal detector types generally get a bad press (usually justifiable)

    But these two chaps have brought honour to the craft. Very nice to see that they want the hoard displayed (along with the land owner) All in all a jolly nice pair.

    <------- that beers for you

  9. Jelliphiish
    IT Angle

    i must have missed the IT angle

    yet more mission creep into the realms of the daily fail..

    1. horsham_sparky

      Re: i must have missed the IT angle

      There's quite a bit of gold used on circuit boards, IC's etc inside computers..

      OK, a slight stretch, but there's more to life than IT you know (beer for example)

    2. Chris_Maresca

      Metal detectors

      Need I say more?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: i must have missed the IT angle

      Metal detectors these days are high tech gear, and typically contain a microcontroller that generates a square wave pulse, and performs analogue to digital conversion on any incoming signal. This is then interpreted by signal processing software, and the result displayed in human readable form on an LCD display. This all generally runs under a pre-emptive multi tasking real time scheduler, with custom device drivers carefully crafted for the device's unique hardware, which can include display, buttons, audio, LCD screen and custom GUI, sigma delta ADC, etc. There's your IT angle.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Trollface

      Re: i must have missed the IT angle

      The aim is to draw out the witless misanthropes who, every time there's an interesting article which doesn't mention the ACT DX-260000-M microprocessor, lumber out from under their bridge and complain about the 'lack of IT angle' in a story.

      It seems to have worked.

    5. Francis Boyle Silver badge

      Re: i must have missed the IT angle

      Interred Trove - theres always an IT angle.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Surely any coin

    stamped 50BC is a fake! (Please smile!)

    1. Francis Boyle Silver badge

      Re: Surely any coin

      Well obviously, since their were no Christians around at the time they used BCE instead.

  11. Alan Brown Silver badge
    Trollface

    Coins on display I can understand

    How are they going to mount and stuff the landowner?

    1. Brezhnev's Shadow

      Re: Coins on display I can understand

      Depends what shape and size they are. I thought all guys knew this? ;)

  12. blaine gaither
    Happy

    The leprechauns want their gold back

    Now!

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No Gold reported

    Just silver and bronze

    1. nematoad
      Holmes

      Re: No Gold reported

      Yes, if as reported the coins have been fused into a solid mass that would show that the vast majority are NOT gold.

      Gold does not corrode; silver and bronze do, which would account for them sticking together. In any case if the hoard was of gold coins a half a tonne would be a damned sight more valuable that the £10 million that I have seen quoted.

  14. Chris Hawkins
    Linux

    Must have been an XXXXXLL Size Jersey! (Exits stage left rapidly.....)

  15. Dana W
    Unhappy

    Just long enough for the government to find the most polite legal phraseology to steal it.

  16. Winkypop Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Motherlode

    This has got to be the reason why honest 'detectorists' ply their trade.

  17. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
    Pirate

    Am I the only one with the urge to say ARRRRH!!!!

    Buried treasure, after all.

    1. horsham_sparky
      Trollface

      Re: Am I the only one with the urge to say ARRRRH!!!!

      yes, but the rest of us managed to show some self-restraint.. :-)

      That said, you've let the parrot out onto the shoulder..YARRRR!!! X marks the spot me hearties!

  18. Great Bu

    Woudn't it be easier...

    ....to invest in a few of those items that expand your gold pickup range by a few yards so you can scan around the field much quicker ?

    Or have I been playing too much Diablo 3 ?

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Investment opportunity;

    Any branches of Cash for Gold in Jersey?

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    I guess Jersey really does have a tradition as a tax haven!

    And I thought it was just the last 40-50 years. Shows how much I know!

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    How do they know the coins are from 50BC?

    Was that the date on the coins?

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