Roman coin hoard found, the weight of two men

A metal detector enthusiast has unearthed the second largest haul of Roman coins ever found in Britain, little over a year after the discovery of the 'Staffordshire Hoard'.

David Crisp, a 63-year-old hospital chef, located the 52,503 coins in a single earthenware pot in a field near Frome, Somerset.

Mr Crisp, from Devizes in Wiltshire, said his detector gave a "funny signal" prompting him to dig down and have a look.

What he found was an astonishing collection of coins from the 3rd century AD, a period barely touched in most history books on Roman Britain.

"The joy of metal detecting is that you never know what you will find," said Mr Crisp, who has been sweeping the fields for 20 years.

"I always live in hope but didn't expect to find something like this."

All the coins had been left in a single two-foot-high pot. At 160kg – just over 25 stone – the haul weighs as much as two fully grown men.

It is slightly smaller than the largest ever British Roman coin hoard, of 54,912 pieces, found in two pots near Marlborough, Wilts, in 1978.

A selection of the Frome coins, found in April, is to go on display at the British Museum from July 22 until mid-August.

Roger Bland, its head of portable antiquities and treasure, said 766 coins were from the reign of the "lost" British emperor Carausius, who ruled the province from 286 to 293 without the authority of Rome.

Carausius fell out of favour with the Roman Emperor Maximian after he used his Channel fleet to amass enormous wealth by capturing pirate ships.

Maximian ordered his execution but the rebel refused to submit and ruled Britain and northern Gaul in defiance of Rome.

He became the first emperor to strike coins in Britain, which he did to affirm his legitimacy. Five of the Carausius coins are solid silver, the first such pure coins minted anywhere in the Roman empire in over 150 years.

Despite the Frome haul's quantity, most are a relatively common denomination known as 'radiates', made of debased silver and bronze. The haul is likely to be worth around £250,000, given prices for individual coins.

That is less than a tenth of the £3.285 million Staffordshire Hoard of Anglo-Saxon treasures, which contained more than 5kg (11lb) of gold and 1.3kg (2.9lb) of silver.

A coroner is set to declare the find a treasure trove at an inquest on July 22, paving the way for Somerset County Council to acquire it off Mr Crisp and the landowner. Each is entitled to a 50 per cent share of its value under the Portable Antiquities Scheme.