Archaeologists carefully excavated the jar and discovered it to be an extremely valuable treasure.
Dave Crisp is a hospital chef in England who is also an amateur treasure hunter. According to CNN, he stumbled upon a buried treasure while using a metal detector in a field near Frome, Somerset in southwest England. Initially, Dave only found 21 old coins.
But following the trail of coins, he discovered an ancient jar full of coins. Immediately, he searched and sought the help of archaeologists to avoid damaging it. They carefully excavated the jar, determining it to be a huge treasure trove of 52,500 coins worth up to $1 million!
The jar containing the treasure was just an ordinary jar, used for storing food, weighing a total of 160 kg. The coins inside are believed to date from 253 to 293 AD, mostly made of silver or copper.
Roger Bland, head of the Mobile Treasures and Antiquities department at the British Museum, told CNN in an interview: “Dave did the right thing; he didn’t dig and excavate everything himself (to avoid damaging the artifacts). This is a huge amount of coins ever found in a jar in England. We think someone buried this money without intending to retrieve it. It could have been savings, or perhaps buried in anticipation of an invasion, or even as part of an offering to the gods.”
Dave shared: “I’m thrilled. While it’s great, the money isn’t really that important. What matters is that I’m the one who discovered this treasure.”
Experts reportedly organized an appraisal of the coin’s ownership, because legally, Dave would have to share the treasure’s value with the owner of the field where he found it.