20. Metal Detectorists
What does it take one to be extremely lucky? For this amateur metal detectorist, it was a small piece of ancient history that brought him more fortune than he could ever imagine! People all over the world have taken up on this hobby, and it’s obvious why. The thought of stumbling upon a treasure has made them curious and they were all willing to spend some time and digging.
While some unlucky treasure hunters only found a few soda cans, old rusty screws, others have found ancient treasures.
A man from England has recently made a discovery of his own in March. When he took the ancient relic to experts, they couldn’t believe what was in front of them!
Curious to find out more? Let’s check out the British man’s story.
The British man went to Dover, Kent with his brother to investigate the land close to an old Roman Road.
After he received permission from the owner of the land, he tried his luck and turned on the metal detector.
The anonymous 30-year-old British man was an amateur metal detectorist who had been looking for treasures in the past seven years.
This time, he thought that searching close to that Roman road should increase his chances of actually finding something old.
They walked around for over half an hour, finding only some bits of old tractors and even shotgun cartridges.
But fifteen minutes later, the metal detector points them towards their treasure!
“I've searched it before without finding anything but made the discovery about 45 minutes into this search,” said the metal detectorist about the field where they’ve made the discovery. The two brothers had high hopes this time. It was cold enough on that March day, and digging through that cold earth was definitely not pleasant.
As the metal detectorist cleaned the piece of metal his device picked on, he was stunned to see it was a gold coin! At first, he was not very excited…
The first seconds after he cleaned the gold coin, he thought it was only a gold sovereign, which meant the coin was from modern times and not worth much. Nonetheless, he had to alert the authorities, as the law required.
But after he got it appraised at the British Museum, he couldn’t believe how old it really was. It was also worth a fortune!
“I've never found anything like it in seven years of detecting and I'm still gobsmacked now,” he said to the reporters.
The man learned that his discovery was something only archaeologists could ever dream of!
The coin was 1700-year-old. It was called a Roman aureus, and here’s why it is such a unique find. On of the coin’s side, you could see the face of the Roman ruler Allectus.
Only two dozens of this type exist, which makes the metal detectorist very lucky to have found one. He said “the landowner has been made aware and is obviously really excited.” Can you guess how much it was worth?
The Emperor Allectus reigned around 293AD and it is the first ruler that tried to release Britain out of the Roman Empire rule.
You could say he was the first Brexiteer!
The coin is made out of 24 carats, and it was appraised at £100,000 ($130,000).
However, at the auction it sold for a lot more, leaving the hobbyist in awe.
As we mentioned earlier, this Roman aureus is one of the two dozens that were made during Emperor Allectus rule. But so far, only one other coin was discovered!
The other coin is in the British Museum. When the metal detectorist was asked by reporters about his find, he told them he was still in shock!
“This really is the find of a lifetime for me and the greatest discovery I have made by miles. At first I was quite sceptical of its authenticity because it was so shiny but when I realised what it could be potentially I just completely freaked out by it.” Even the specialist at the British Museum was ecstatic, he added.
Why was this kind of coin so rare?
There are not many details in history about the Rebel Emperor Allectus, only that he was a Roman-British finance minister. He killed the ruler Carausius and became emperor over Briton and Northern Gaul in 293AD.
He only managed to keep his position for three years…
Dubbed as the rebel Emperor, Allectus had a fleet of galleys and employed mercenaries so he could remain in power. However, Emperor Constantinus I, the father of Constantine the Great, killed him in a battle in 296AD.
As for the coins, you may wonder why they were so rare.
The coins he minted with his face on one side and Apollo and two captives on the other side were melted, and only a few remained. The metal detectorist was lucky to find this coin because the British law says finding a single coin does not count as finding treasure.
How much did it sell at the auction for?
The 30-year-old metal detectorist is a painter, and wished he could keep the coin as a memory, but he had to split his find with the landowner: “I actually wish I could afford to keep the coin but unfortunately it's way out of my range.” The auction went a lot better than expected!
During the auction, collectors started bidding on the coin at Dix Noonan Webb (DNW) in London. It started at an estimate of between “$90,000 and $127,000,” but collectors made bids on the phone and on the internet as well.
An anonymous buyer won it by bidding on the telephone, adding it to their private collection. How much did they pay for it?
The coin sold for £552,000! “We expected it to sell for a little over estimate, but not five times the estimate!
We are sharing the money with the farmer, who is also thrilled!” said the metal detectorist who has yet no plans for the money.
The hobbyist is surely encouraged to look for more long-lost treasures now that he saw how lucky he got at Dover. According to Mr.
Webb, this was “most expensive coin that we have ever sold at Dix Noonan Webb,” adding that it was “the most valuable Roman coin minted in Britain to have been sold at auction.”