In this article we will take you on a quick tour through Britain and Ireland, looking at the distribution of coin hoards by different historic periods, and highlighting selected examples. This article is different to others, in that it provides the reader with many clickable hyperlinks which can be followed to easily learn more about any hoard. Although some links are provided directly in the text, it is possible to access all the hoards for a particular time period by simply clicking on the “map-link” beneath each of the illustrated maps.
Hoards
The City of London, Lime Street Hoard(s), 1881 – Hugh Pagan
The present note provides the first published discussion and listing of 232 coins of Edward the Confessor found in Lime Street, London EC3, during the year 1881, accompanied by up to 14 coins of his immediate predecessors and 6 coins of Harold II. The coins involved were acquired by the coin collector Thomas Bliss (c.1848-1914), and Bliss’s meticulous listing of them in his manuscript catalogue of his collection enables the coins to be traced partly in the sale catalogue of Bliss’s own collection, sold by Sotheby’s in 1916, and partly in the sale catalogues of the relevant portions of the great collection made by the London solicitor Hyman Montagu (1844-1895), sold by Sotheby’s shortly after Montagu’s death. The fact that coins of Edward the Confessor were found in such quantity in Lime Street in 1881 has remained unknown both to numismatic scholars and to those interested in the history and archaeology of Anglo-Saxon London over the last 145 years. Readers
read more The City of London, Lime Street Hoard(s), 1881 – Hugh Pagan
The Bath (1755) Hoard : The Property of a Visitor from Midland England – Hugh Pagan
The Bath (1755) hoard, comprising coins of Aethelstan, Eadmund and Eadred, and deposited in the first half of the 950s, was the subject of an article in BNJ half a century ago by Christopher Blunt and the present writer. More now be said about it, and an updated summary list of its content is attached.
MCHBI – The Medieval Coin Hoards of Britain and Ireland Database – Three years on… Robert Page & Martin Allen
In November 2022 the British Numismatic Society’s Medieval Coin Hoards of Britain and Ireland database, “MCHBI”, first appeared online, and was documented in a BNS Research Blog article at the time; in the ensuing period of almost three years the database has been expanded with additional hoards, and some useful new software features added. Currently with over 2,100 hoards and still growing, this is the largest available compilation of medieval coin hoards for Britain and Ireland. It is now timely to present an updated overview of the current state of this important online resource.
A Day at the Museum – Part (ii) Moving The Shillington Hoard – Gary Oddie
This note describes a visit to Stockwood Discovery Centre (The Culture Trust, Luton Museum) by members of the Bedford Numismatic Society. The motive for the visit was to help with the safe removal of the hoard of gold aurei that had been found at Shillington, Bedfordshire, found 1998-1999, along with another hoard of denarii and a bronze mirror found nearby. It was a privilege to be asked and a pleasure to help with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to look at 127 gold aurei dating from AD 14 – AD 79, one of the largest hoards of Roman gold coins found in Britain.
The Kilkenny West, Co. Westmeath, Hoard of Coins of Eadgar – Hugh Pagan
Image: Colonel Sempronius Stretton, a painting by Thomas Barber This note has two primary purposes. The first is to draw the attention of the numismatic community to John Sheehan’s reassignment of the Eadgar hoard’s find spot from Co. Kilkenny to Co. Westmeath. The second is to provide an updated listing of the coins of Eadgar and of other tenth-century Anglo-Saxon rulers offered in the 1855 Stretton sale.
A Day at the Museum – Part (i) The Search for the Lesser Elongated Squirrel
On 25 July 2023, the author and two members of the Bedford Numismatic Society visited Wardown House Museum and Gallery, in Luton. The “behind the scenes” visit had two main motives. Firstly, inspection and photography of the Museum’s collection of Bedfordshire tokens and also to work through the museum’s holdings of Anglo-Saxon and Norman pennies struck at the Bedford Mint.A follow-up visit to the Stockwood Discovery Centre on 15 August was arranged to view the Bedford Mint pennies, on permanent display there, and also to help the museum with the safe relocation of the Shillington hoard of 127 gold aurei found in 1998 and 1999. This will be written up in a separate Blog. Whilst on site the opportunity was taken to make an elongated penny using a machine in the visitor centre to be described here.
“So, how rare is my coin?” – Rob Page
The database behind the online MCHBI app (link) provides endless scope for statistical analyses. Below, I provide a link to a list of Medieval coins found in hoards deposited no later than 1544, the cut-off date for the MCHBI database. The list is sorted in decreasing frequency of occurrence, and the number of hoard coins per ruler is shown. There are some minor sub-divisions; for example, the Tealby coins of Henry II are listed separately from the Short Cross coins of the same ruler. The list presents Medieval coins currently in the database, many of which now reside in museums and are therefore not available in the marketplace for collectors. The dataset has some issues. For example, if some coins are known to have been present in a hoard but we have no knowledge or estimate of the number, then these coins will not appear in the lists. The MCHBI hoard records are gradually being edited and improved, so this
The Heworth 1812 Hoard: A Cold Case Reconsidered – Hugh Pagan
A fresh look at the Heworth hoard of 1812, a hoard of early nineteenth century forgeries purporting to be coins of the seventh century Northumbrian king Ecgfrith (670-685).
A Token of Appreciation for a Jacobean Hoard – Gary Oddie
In August 1847 a hoard of silver coins was found by workmen digging a foundation at Deighton, four miles south of York. The coins ranged from the reign of Mary to James I, with the latest datable to 1613. Some of the coins were donated to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society and are now in York Museum. The rest were returned to the landowner, Lord Wenlock.A silver tankard was made, with several of the coins mounted on the outside, and presented to the finder. The location of the tankard was unknown until it appeared at auction in 2014 when it was sold along with a silver salver, also mounted with silver coins. From the weights of the tankard and salver, it is speculated that the hoard was melted to provide the silver.
BNS Research Blog 