THE WEST NORFOLK HOARD

Late last year the so-called West Norfolk hoard was declared Treasure by Mrs. Jacqueline Lake, the county’s Coroner. It had been found by a metal detectorist over several years, scattered in the ploughsoil of an arable field and brought in for recording in batches after each period of detecting. The size of the hoard – over a hundred gold coins accompanied by a gold bracteate, a gold ingot and fragments of gold jewellery – ensured it quickly found its way into the headlines. In fact, ten coins from the hoard that were found by a second metal detectorist and not declared to the authorities or the landowner had earlier hit the press in 2017 when the individual was sentenced to sixteen months in gaol and all but one of the coins seized, some from a coin dealer and others from the collectors who had unknowingly bought them (figure 1).

Apart from two coins found earlier, one