A British man planted some medieval coins he bought on eBay during a metal detecting rally near the Welch borders to enhance his reputation. The article states these coins were minted between 1163 and 1201 in Antioch. This “discovery” could have rewritten local history if this hoax had not been exposed. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-bought-ancient-coins-eBay-planted-field.html
If it had been a genuine discovery, and not an hoax, it would have rewritten nothing. There were many people who travelled between Western Europe and the Near East in the 13th c. It's not like finding a precolombian gold jewel in a 13th c. English grave.
If a genuine find, this would have represented a substantial addition to the extremely small number of securely contextualised finds of securely middle-eastern medieval objects in England (whether artefacts or coins). Currently the corpus of crusader-kingdom related material in Britain is very small, I believe a coin of Tancred was found on the Isle of Wight and there is also a Bohemond denier from Oxfordshire of the same type as described in the news article above - but that may be a relatively recent loss. People may well have travelled between western europe and the near east, but to find a coin hoard of this composition near the Welsh Borders reflects an unprecedented hoard/purse loss for the country. So while 'rewrite' is typical media exaggeration, the importance of such a find (if it had not been a hoax) can't be underestimated. However, it was obvious from the start that this was a plant - 13th century English coinage is of a higher silver quality than these and they would almost certainly have not been accepted for this reason, not least of all that they themselves were obviously not issued in the realm.
