Metal detectorists find 2,000-year-old Iron Age gold treasure in Welsh first
Gold coins dating back more than 2,000 years have been found by metal detectorists in Wales, making them the first hoard of Iron Age gold coins to have been discovered in the country.
The 15 coins, which have been declared treasure, are known as staters. They were found the Welsh island of Anglesey, off the northwest coast of the country’s mainland.
The precious metals were unearthed by three metal detectorists in a field between July 2021 and March 2022.
Lloyd Roberts, who said he has been a metal detectorist for more than 14 years, found the first coin.
“Finding a gold stater was always number one on my wish list,” he said in the release, adding: “That one coin alone would have made my year, but I went on to find another on my next signal.”
Roberts said that his friend, Peter Cockton, found the next three. They then contacted the Portable Antiquities Scheme, an organization which records such historical and archaeological finds.
Tim Watson, who said he only began metal detecting following encouragement from his father during lockdown, found the sixth.
“I rushed home to show my wife and we were both in awe of this coin, which was like nothing else I had found, immaculately preserved with such unusual stylised images,” Watson said in the release.
Watson said his enthusiasm led him to upgrade his metal detector and he found the remaining nine coins in the following weeks.
Gold coins dating back more than 2,000 years have been found by metal detectorists in Wales, making them the first hoard of Iron Age gold coins to have been discovered in the country. The 15 coins, which have been declared treasure, are known as staters. They were found the Welsh island of Anglesey, off the…