Article
17 May 2022
A hoard of 142 Roman silver coins that was unearthed by three metal-detectorists with over 90 years detecting experience in a field in Wiltshire in September 2020 sold today (Tuesday, May 17, 2022) for a hammer price of £81,160 at specialist Coin, Medal, Banknote and Jewellery auctioneers Noonans (previously Dix Noonan Webb) at their Mayfair saleroom (16 Bolton Street, London W1J 8BQ). The hoard was 100% sold and had been expected to sell in the region of £30,000–40,000.
Mick Rae, a 63-year-old herds manager; Robert Abbott (53) who owns a computer shop and Dave Allen (59) a carpenter were spending the weekend camping on a field in Wiltshire. Dave and Rob both live in Essex, and Mick, at the time, lived in Wiltshire.
As Rob explained: “Having finished breakfast first, I turned on my machine, a Minelab Equinox 800, and having walked around six paces from the tent, I found several tent pegs and just under the surface a late Roman silver siliqua in pristine condition. A few moments later beside it, I found another one!”
This prompted both Mick and Dave to grab their detectors and help in the search. Over the course of the weekend they found 161 coins in total, comprising silver siliqua and miliarense dating from AD 340–402. They had to keep them in their camping washing-up bowl as they didn’t have anything else to store them in.
Rob continued: “Ironically, we had been camping there 2 weeks previous for a week-long detecting outing. What we hadn’t realised is we’d actually camped right on top of the area where the coins were found!”
After the Auction, Rob commented: “Wow, I am gobsmacked, this is the first auction that I have ever been to, so to see my own items sell so well was amazing. Dave and I sat there watching the prices go up and up! We will obviously share the sale proceeds with the landowner, but I know Mick will spend his money on his new micro dairy, while I will buy a new camera. For the first time, I am lost for words…”
As Nigel Mills, Consultant (Artefacts and Antiquities) at Noonans explains: “Virtually all of the coins were in mint condition and have not even needed to be cleaned since their discovery. The hoard was buried at a time when Roman rule in Britain under the Emperor Honorius was no longer viable with the army being recalled to protect other provinces. In AD 410 Britain was told to protect itself by Honorius.”
He went on to say: “As a result Britain has become a treasure island of late 4th century and early 5th century gold and silver Roman coin and jewellery hoards as the local population buried their valuables and then fell victim to Saxon raids. Detector finds in recent years include the Thetford and Hoxne hoards.”
After the sale, he said: “The sale was really well supported and made double its high estimate, it was amazing! We had buyers from the USA, Germany, Malaysia and the UK, and everyone is very happy with the outcome – it just shows what can be achieved if you do all the right things.”
The two highest prices of the sale were for two Miliarensis coins. An extremely fine example from the reign of Valens (364-378) realised £4,200 – against an estimate of £1,200-1,500 [lot 17] while an extremely rare example from the reign of Constantius II (337-361) fetched £4,000 against an estimate of £2,000-2,600 [lot 2].
The British Museum studied the coins and retained just two coins for their collection from the hoard.
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