Lost And Found
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon when he got the call from a friend who needed help. He arrived as soon as he could and trawled the field looking for the missing hammer, his skills with a metal detector quickly turning up what they were looking for.
But although they’d found the tool, the device continued to beep. And after a little digging, the metal detector was screaming.
Retirement Gift
When Eric Lawes retired after 30 years working for Eastern Electricity Board, the company had planned to give him a watch as a farewell gift. But after realizing he wasn’t the kind of man that would sit around doing nothing in his twilight years, they decided a metal detector might be a more appropriate parting gift.
The English retiree was born and raised in the village of Hoxne (pronounced "Hoxon") and there were plenty of places for him to play with his new toy. But one day, he was given a more important mission.
Lost Hammer
Eric received a phone call from his farmer friend Peter who had been out working in the fields. He asked Eric to come and help him find his lost hammer, which he’d dropped somewhere in the long grass.
With a few quick sweeps of the area, Eric soon uncovered the missing hammer, but the metal detector was still alerting him to something in the ground. “I suppose we should see what else is here,” Eric said to Peter.
First Discovery
The old man moved the soil with his fingers and touched something hard. He dug around with the hammer and eventually pulled something out.
Eric laughed when he found the old coin. He had spent countless hours scouring the village for a little treasure and here he was just helping out a friend when he stumbles across his first find. But at that point, he had no idea what he was really onto.
Exciting Times
Eric continued to move the metal detector over the field and kept finding more trinkets. A few other coins and even a spoon.
The old man was brought up in poverty, so he was thrilled at the prospect that he might have found something of value. But he couldn’t keep digging on his own. It was time to call in the experts.
Finders Keepers?
Archaeologist Jude Plouvier arrived at the Hoxne field keen to see what Eric had turned up. After a quick look at some of the coins, she was able to confirm that he had struck upon a stash of gold and silver Roman coins and some other valuable treasures.
But there was a big problem for Eric. While there was a witness to prove it was Eric who’d found the hoard, it was unearthed on someone else’s property.
Whose Is It?
Jude and her team got to work on the site and eventually discovered 60 pounds worth of treasure including 15,000 coins and even some gold jewelry.
But as the land didn’t belong to Eric, his claim to the valuable treasure would have been difficult. And his friend Peter the farmer was only a tenant of the farmland, meaning the treasure would go directly to the landlord.
Government Land
The owner of the land happened to be Suffolk County Council, who promptly took ownership of the discovery, which Jude managed to pull up in its entirety in just one day.
Eric - who served in the Royal Marines during the Second World War - sat at home thinking about how much the treasure might be worth, knowing he wasn’t entitled to any of it. Then, he received an intriguing phone call.
Court Summons
A government representative had called Eric to inform him of exactly what the archeologist had found. The Romano-British treasure had been stashed for safekeeping by a family during a skirmish, but the original owners had never returned to dig it up. This officially classes it as a “treasure trove.”
And what’s more, there would be an inquest to determine legally that the council were to take possession of the gold and silver, despite the fact that he was the one who found it. Begrudgingly, Eric attended the court appointment.
Wise Decision
Because Eric had done the right thing and informed the authorities before digging for more, the honest treasure hunter was entitled to a reward of £1.75 million ($2 million) - equivalent to the value of the treasure itself.
And even though he was under no obligation to, Eric decided to split the money 50/50 with his friend Peter, whose lost hammer sparked the discovery in the first place. Several other residents have since bought metal detectors and dug up their gardens in search of more precious metal, but Eric’s find was a true record-breaker.
Legendary Collection
Eric’s discovery was later named the Hoxne Hoard - the biggest Roman gold and silver cache ever found in the UK. The principal piece of the collection is a silver panther, displayed in its own case in the British Museum.
Sadly, Eric passed away in 2015. But there’s one piece in the exhibit that truly commemorates his legacy.
Hammer Time
The hammer itself can be seen in the British Museum alongside all the unearthed Roman treasure. Even though it doesn’t have much monetary value, the simple tool is considered to have historical importance as it led Eric to find the historical artifacts in the first place.
Would you be noble enough to alert the authorities if you found a cache of coins worth $2 million?