http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6906482.stm A haul of Viking treasure unearthed in Yorkshire has been proclaimed the most important find of its kind in Britain for 150 years by experts at the British Museum. The haul was discovered by father and son David and Andrew Whelan while metal detecting in Harrogate in January. The pair described the find as a "thing of dreams". The pair kept their find intact and it was transferred to experts at the British Museum, who said it was a hoard of "global significance". The hoard contains 617 silver coins and 65 other objects, including a gilt silver vessel which dates back to the first half of the 9th Century. Experts said the treasure provided valuable new information about the history of England in the early 10th Century and Yorkshire's wider cultural contacts in the period. If you ever wanted to see a Viking hoard right out of the ground...nows the time
Wow that's pretty cool i would love to see those silver coins up close wish they had a better picture of them. What a lucky find for those 2
Eric The Red and co., were known for their travels thru the Mediterranean, Black Seas, and all rivers which fed them. The shallow draft ships they built could virtually navigate creeks...
Will the father and son get to keep the find, or get some kind of "finder's fee" for the find? Just wodering? swick
Swick: England has wonderful laws about this. As 'treasure trove', museums get first shot at purchasing the hoard, however they must pay fair market value for the find! Not like here, they (read the wonderful government of ours) would just take it away.
Thank you Frank. Glad to hear that the father & son will be getting something for their find. Like you said, the US government would just take the find, and probably have the father & son put in jail for treaspassing. swick
Actually quite possibly true. A couple of years ago two guys were arrested at a Federal Park. They stopped to ask a ranger if there was anywhere that they could detect around there. He asked them if they had detectors in their vehicle. (Answer: Yes, in the trunk. No batteries in them, the batteries were in the front of their car.) They got a summons for (are you ready for this) : INTENT TO DETECT! So, on top of everything else, our (expletive deleted) dumb a-- government now hires mind readers!! In another case, two guys asked the same question and were nearly arrested. However, in that instance, they were very lucky----they had left the detectors at their motel! There have been many instances of this stupidity. Our tax dollars at work.
I have a book about vikings I bought in Norway...it shows a hoard found that had old Persian coins like those of Khusro II, they went all over for sure..
I haven't been metal detecting in years, but one thing I learned when I was doing it was to avoid anything that says Federal or National - parks, seashores, reserves, whatever. :whistle:
Well they say it could be valued at up to a million pounds, thats over 2 mil us, splitting the proceeds between the finders and the landowners, If I were the finders I would ask that I be able to keep one of the duplicate coins if any and have the hoard named after me.
I dont think I would care if the hoard was named after me....but I would want a few keepsakes from the hoard for sure and being given the right to NAME the hoard would be cool.
