MAN FINDS BURIED TREASURE OF GOLD COINS WORTH £10,000 IN A FIELD IN ESSEX

For four days Chris Kutler, 54, swept his metal detector over the mud of a field in Essex.

But it was worth it, because hundreds of years before, in that very field, an Anglo Saxon was burying their gold.

 
Chris, who is from South West London, but detects in Essex, said: "It is kind of the Holy Grail of metal detectoring. I thought about giving up."

The hoard has now been sent to the British Museum for analysis and valuation, but experts believe they could be worth as much as £10,000.

"When I found the first, I thought it was a wasp. I got a flash of yellow and threw it back but then I realised what it was," he said.

"It was the best feeling in the world, especially after four days of hard work."

 

How Chris knew where to look

Chris, who has been metal detectoring for more than 25 years, found rare Anglo-Saxon coins at the same site 18 years ago, which are now housed at the British Museum.

He went back after reading an article that suggested more coins would be still in the ground.

"I decided to rake the top soil off and get down to the compact soil [underneath], and scanned the area off in 100 square metres, and did every one individually," said Chris.

"I thought I really need to do it because this is the last time I am going to do it. I needed to go back

"I have already been back and searched the area thoroughly and nothing has come up."

How did he decide to look there? Research. "I started collecting data about place names, I would locate the name of the place, and field names often indicate archaeological activity," Chris said.

"If you find one coin there are probably many."

 

How rare is buried treasure?

The coins from Chris' hoard have been sent to the British Museum for analysis and valuation

 

Chris' coins are far from alone – with almost 1.3million finds uncovered in the 20 years since the Treasure Act was brought into force, 82,272 of them in 2015 alone.

 

The lesson? Buried treasure is not only real, but still being uncovered at a fast rate in Britain.