Detectorist’s hoard including 1,000-year-old Melton coin fetches £90,000 at auction

A rare coin which was struck in a mint at Melton Mowbray 1,000 years ago was part of a hoard discovered by a metal detectorist which has sold for £90,000 at auction.
A hoard of historic coins which fetched £90,000 at auction EMN-190612-104313001A hoard of historic coins which fetched £90,000 at auction EMN-190612-104313001
A hoard of historic coins which fetched £90,000 at auction EMN-190612-104313001

Builder Don Crawley unearthed the 99 Anglo Saxon silver pennies on farmland in Suffolk in March 2017.

They included a coin from Melton which is thought to have been made during the reign of Aethelred II, who was on the throne between 978 and 1016.

It fetched £8,400 when it went under the hammer at Dix Noonan Webb in London with the hoard, as a whole, being auctioned for three times its original estimate.

A Don Crawley, a metal detectorist who found a hoard of historic coins which fetched £90,000 at auction EMN-190612-104251001A Don Crawley, a metal detectorist who found a hoard of historic coins which fetched £90,000 at auction EMN-190612-104251001
A Don Crawley, a metal detectorist who found a hoard of historic coins which fetched £90,000 at auction EMN-190612-104251001

Mr Crawley said: “I am totally amazed at the auction and loved every minute. I will probably never experience anything like this again.”

Around the time the Melton coin was stuck there were around 70 mints across England and Wales.

The biggest was in London and other important ones were located at York, Lincoln and Stamford.

Melton was one of the minor mints which was active for only a short period because they were set up to meet a desperate demand for coins following the plundering of the invading Vikings

Part of a hoard of historic coins which fetched £90,000 at auction EMN-190612-104302001Part of a hoard of historic coins which fetched £90,000 at auction EMN-190612-104302001
Part of a hoard of historic coins which fetched £90,000 at auction EMN-190612-104302001

On his discovery of the historic silver pennies, Mr Crawley, who has been a detectorist for 30 years, recalled: “It was my first visit to this farmers land in Suffolk.

“After walking up an incline in the field, my Deus detector gave off a strong signal and within a short space of time I had recovered 93 coins.”

He added: “The finds liaison officer was called in and they investigated the site which turned out to be a long forgotten Saxon church which had been dismantled by the Normans in the 11th century.

“Excavating around, they uncovered the remains of human bones and I found another six coins.”

The hoard was taken to the British Museum, where experts examined the coins and confirmed they were from the reign of Aethelred II.

It is thought to have been buried by a pilgrim who was making penitence and was worried about the impending apocalypse of the Millennium.

The coins remained at the museum until they were disclaimed in August of this year.

Nigel Mills, Dix Noonan Webb’s antiquities specialist, said: “This is a fantastic result for Don, and shows how the prices realised at auction for a newly found hoard can exceed everyone’s expectations.”