Ancient gold coins shine but lead weights are real treasure

Four gold coins found in a field near East Peckham could be worth more than £10,000 - but experts believe the real treasure could be a couple of nondescript lead weights. Two of the coins are 'early-medieval Merovingian gold tremissis' from around AD590-670, both minted in France - one in Senlis, and the other in St Denis. The third coin, another early-medieval gold tremissis known as a 'pale shilling' was from a later period, circa AD650-70, and likely to have been minted in either East Anglia or Kent. The fourth, thought to date back to AD590-670, was more mysterious, of "uncertain" origin.

The economy was a bullion-based system, with value determined by weight of precious metal, not the 'face value' of a coin. The presence of lead weights is important as the weights found were within 0.03 grams of the weight of the other coins, all of which weigh roughly 1.3 grams. Such weights were being used to assess the value of coins - but actually finding them alongside coins is extremely rare.