A pensioner found a haul of treasure while out metal detecting in Lancashire.
John Harrison, 70, of Kellet Road, Carnforth, found two lots of coins on land owned by the RSPB in Silverdale.
The married father-of-three attended Preston Coroners’ Court yesterday for an inquest to deem whether or not the find is classed as treasure.
For an item to be treasure, it must be at least 300-years-old and must contain more than 10% precious metal if it is a coin found in a set fewer than 10.
On January 8, he found five post-medieval coins which he handed over to Lancaster City Museum.
The coins, around 400-years-old, include a Queen Mary I groat, a sixpence, one threepence and one threehalfpence from Queen Elizabeth I’s reign.
The retired carer said: “I was metal detecting on the high water mark. Where I live, there’s been a lot of land erosion.
“One particular day, I found what I found.”
They were discovered in the same spot where Mr Harrison found a similar batch which were confirmed as treasure on September 11, 2009.
He went back two days later and found six coins, up to 700 years old.
They include three pennies from Edward I’s reign and two from Edward III’s.
Dot Boughton, finds liaison officer at the Museum of Lancashire, inspected the coins and said they are silver, made up of 92.5% fine metal.
Mr Harrison said: “I’ve been doing it since the 1970s and I’ve always been interested in history.
“Most of the things I’ve found end up in a museum and it’s where they should be, on public display.
“I always feel elated because it’s history.
“Lancaster Museum has got four Roman brooches on display in an illuminated box.”
Mr Harrison has only ever found items worth up to £50 but enjoys hunting for objects with historical worth.
He said: “I found a 4,500-year-old dagger. It was one of the first items that mankind ever made from metal. It was only a small thing.”
He also recently found a pristine, 3,000-year-old spear from the Bronze Age in Warton.
And 30 coins, which are thought to date back to the fall of the Roman Empire, at Holgates Caravan Park’s Far Arnside site on the Lancashire-Cumbria border.
Deputy coroner Simon Jones called Mr Harrison an experienced finder of artefacts and said the finds fulfilled the criteria for treasure.
Source: lep.co.uk [October 01, 2010]
