The Hoxne Hoard

When Peter Whatling lost his hammer near Hoxne, Suffolk, he asked a friend with a metal detector to help out. They found something.

The 1992 discovery brought the two men a finder’s fee of £1.75m.

The Hoxne Hoard is the largest hoard of late Roman silver and gold discovered in Britain, and the largest collection of gold and silver coins of the fourth and fifth centuries found anywhere within the Roman Empire. 14,780 gold and silver coins, along with 200 jewellery items,ornaments and tableware were found.

The hoard was part of the accumulated wealth of the affluent Roman Aurelius Ursicinus.

The hoard is made up of gold and silver coins and jewellery, amounting to 3.5 kg (7.7 lb) of gold and 23.75 kg (52.4 lb) of silver.