Tom Servo
September 29th, 2009, 07:47 AM
The UK's largest haul of Anglo-Saxon treasure has been discovered buried in a field in Staffordshire.
Experts say the collection of 1,500 gold and silver pieces, which may date to the 7th Century, is unparalleled in size and worth "a seven-figure sum".
It has been declared treasure by South Staffordshire coroner Andrew Haigh, meaning it belongs to the Crown.
Terry Herbert, who found it on farmland using a metal detector, said it "was what metal detectorists dream of".
It could take more than a year for it to be valued.
The Staffordshire hoard contains about 5kg of gold and 2.5kg of silver, making it far bigger than the Sutton Hoo discovery in 1939 when 1.5kg of Anglo-Saxon gold was found near Woodbridge in Suffolk.
Source (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/8272058.stm).
So far 645 photos (http://www.flickr.com/photos/finds/sets/72157622378376316/) of the items, still caked in mud, have been uploaded to flickr by Portable Antiquities.
A couple of days prior to this discovery in Staffordshire another was made in Oxfordshire:
A skull and gold-inlaid brooch 'on a par with the Sutton Hoo burial', found by an amateur metal detecting enthusiast, could prove to belong to a 1,500 year-old Saxon princess, experts are claiming. The incredible haul came to light when Chris Bayston, 56, noticed something during a rally with the Weekend Wanderers Metal Detectors Club on farmland near West Hanney, Oxfordshire. On further inspection Mr Bayston found the skull and copper alloy brooch; circular in shape, covered in gold and studded with garnets and coral.
Source (http://heritage-key.com/blogs/sean-williams/sutton-hoo-standard-saxon-skull-and-brooch-belong-sixth-century-princess).
Experts say the collection of 1,500 gold and silver pieces, which may date to the 7th Century, is unparalleled in size and worth "a seven-figure sum".
It has been declared treasure by South Staffordshire coroner Andrew Haigh, meaning it belongs to the Crown.
Terry Herbert, who found it on farmland using a metal detector, said it "was what metal detectorists dream of".
It could take more than a year for it to be valued.
The Staffordshire hoard contains about 5kg of gold and 2.5kg of silver, making it far bigger than the Sutton Hoo discovery in 1939 when 1.5kg of Anglo-Saxon gold was found near Woodbridge in Suffolk.
Source (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/8272058.stm).
So far 645 photos (http://www.flickr.com/photos/finds/sets/72157622378376316/) of the items, still caked in mud, have been uploaded to flickr by Portable Antiquities.
A couple of days prior to this discovery in Staffordshire another was made in Oxfordshire:
A skull and gold-inlaid brooch 'on a par with the Sutton Hoo burial', found by an amateur metal detecting enthusiast, could prove to belong to a 1,500 year-old Saxon princess, experts are claiming. The incredible haul came to light when Chris Bayston, 56, noticed something during a rally with the Weekend Wanderers Metal Detectors Club on farmland near West Hanney, Oxfordshire. On further inspection Mr Bayston found the skull and copper alloy brooch; circular in shape, covered in gold and studded with garnets and coral.
Source (http://heritage-key.com/blogs/sean-williams/sutton-hoo-standard-saxon-skull-and-brooch-belong-sixth-century-princess).