More Ancient Coins Discovered

Treasure trove! From BBC News Page last updated at 13:59 GMT, Monday, 10 November 2008 700-year-old coins found in field Three 700-year-old coins which were found in a field have been declared treasure by a coroner at Flint. The silver pennies date back to between 1307 and 1314, to the reigns of both Edward I and his son Edward II. Archaeology enthusiast Peter Jones, from Holywell, found a coin in 2006, then returned to the same spot a year later, when the other two were found. The coins were analysed by experts at Cardiff's National Museum of Wales who discovered they were 90% silver. Mr Jones regularly scours a field owned by his friend Ron Davies, for pre-historic items. He said he has found hundreds of old tools, made from flint, some of which dated back thousands of years before Christ. He told the inquest he did not usually use a metal detector and found the first coin in 2006 just "lying on the surface". The following year he took a metal detector to the same spot, and again found two similar coins on the surface. He said: "I just rubbed them with my hand and they came clean." John Gittins, Deputy Coroner for North East Wales, declared the coins treasure under the Treasure Act 1996. He said the coins were now the property of both Mr Davies and Mr Jones, and they were entitled to have them back. The inquest heard there was also interest from the Flintshire County Museum Service to put them on public display. Mr Jones, who is still deciding where the coins should go, said after the hearing: "Back in those days, this would have been a couple of days' wages for a soldier. "Whoever lost them would not have been happy." The inquest was not told where the coins were found, although Mr Jones described it as a "cracking site".