Story

The origins of the Herefordshire Hoard remain shrouded in mystery. This is hardly surprising given it is thought to have been buried in year 878 AD in the 9th century. However, we know quite a lot about its discovery over 1,100 years later in 2015. The mystery surrounding the decisions and actions of the Hoard’s finders mean the full extent of the Hoard may never be known.

Discovery

On 2 June 2015, two metal detectorists unearthed a collection coins, silver and gold in a field near Leominster, Herefordshire. At the time they did not know the value of what they found, but they were excited enough to take photos of their discovery.
Unlike the thousands of detectorists who operate within the law, this pair were ‘nighthawks. Illegal detectorists who find and remove objects from the ground without the permission of landowner and without informing the authorities often under the cover of darkness.

They had travelled from their homes in South Wales to a field near Leominster. During their search they uncovered buried treasure which included hundreds of ancient coins, gold jewellery and silver ingot. Instead of reporting the discovery they continued digging and took the treasure home. Had they left Hoard where it was found and reported the discovery we would have known so much more about this Hoard than we do.

As experienced detectorists the pair and would have been familiar with the Treasure Act, the law which says finds like theirs should be declared to the authorities.

Treasure is:

Any metallic object, other than a coin, with at least 10% of its weight made of gold or silver and is at least 300 years old when found.
Any prehistoric object that has any gold or silver parts.
Any two or more metallic prehistoric objects that come from the same find.
Two or more coins from the same find that are at least 300 years old when found and with at least 10% of their weight made from gold or silver.
Ten or more coins from the same find which have less than 10% of their weight made from gold or silver.
Groups of coins finds: Hoards that have been deliberately hidden; Smaller groups of coins, such as the contents of purses, that may been dropped or lost; Votive or ritual deposits.
Any object, whatever it is made of, that is found in the same place as, or had previously been together with, another object that is Treasure.
Any object less than 300 years old that is made substantially of gold or silver, that has been deliberately hidden with the intention of recovery and whose owners or heirs are unknown.
Any object at least partially made of metal, is at least 200 years old, and provided exceptional insight into an aspect of national or regional history, archaeology or culture by virtue of its rarity, the location, region or part of the United Kingdom in which it was found, or its connection with a particular person or event.

The Treasure Act’s purpose so to make sure that important discoveries are reported so that they can become part of our shared heritage for the benefit of everyone. However, the pair were wanting more than what they were legally entitled to and began to sell the hoard on the black market.

Illicit trading

Over a number of weeks coins were shown to antique dealers and sold onto people they knew. Despite warnings to report the find from some of those they showed the haul to, they continued to sell coins around the county.

The pair did not hang about and within two days they met with a Cardiff antiques dealer who they knew. They were joined by a fourth man in a café at an antiques centre. At this meeting around two dozen coins were passed around and the nighthawks told the others about the coin hoard they had found. Even today, we do not know exactly how many coins were buried in the hoard. They grainy mobile phone photo of the hoard taken just after they were dug-shows a large ball-like clump of coins. The British Museum estimate based on the scale that the hoard contained between 200-300 coins.

The pair then went on to show the group the golden jewellery. One of the nighthawks got so excited one he had to take a minute away from the group so he could calm down. The antiques dealer recognised the significance of this collection and told them to report the find to the authorities. However, he still agreed to take some of the coins to a specialist to find out more about them. This specialist was the first to date the coins to the 9th century and identify their rarity. Again, the message from this specialist was to report the Hoard to the authorities as soon as possible: however, the pair continued to ignore this advice.

Sometime after the café meeting, one of the nighthawks asked his friend, the antiques dealer, to keep hold of five coins. To keep them safe the antiques dealer, hide in the sewed them into the leather case of a magnifying glass.

A week later one of the nighthawks travelled to a service station on the M4 to meet an associate and part-time antiques trader from East Sussex on the South coast of England. On the 18 June 2015 their East Sussex contact took seven coins to an auction house based in London. The rarity of the coins immediately raised the auction house’s suspicion. They agreed to keep the coins to evaluate them. He returned in early July with nine more rare coins. The auction house again agreed to hold the coins for him. Shortly after all of these coins were given to the police.

At some point during this time at least 44 of the coins were also sold to a pair of metal detectorists from County Durham in the North East of England.

Covering their tracks

News had started to filter through the local metal detecting community that something special had been found. Partly due to one of the funders boasting about the hoard on a detectorist forum and posting photos online.

Before long word reached Herefordshire’s finds liaison officer who made contact with pair to ask if they had anything they wanted to report. One replied with a warning, “I won’t tolerate any slander”. However, this was enough to unsettle the pair and possibly because they feared being caught on the 8 July 2015 they met with the Finds Liaison Officer at the Museum of Wales.

During their meeting at the Museum of Wales they produced the jewellery items. When asked about the where they were found they gave vague answers and claimed the objects had been found under a tree. They also took with them two coins, one each, which they claimed were found separately in different locations and times.

In July, the British Numismatic Trade Association took an extraordinary step and send its members a warning. They believed coins from an undeclared hoard were getting into the marketplace and anyone trading in them was committing a crime.

Police investigation

Around this time Herefordshire’s Finds Liaison Officer approached West Mercia Police with his concerns about the possibility of a heritage crime being committed. He made clear to officers this was no ordinary crime and was worth, potentially, millions of pounds. An investigation was launched on the back of this information.

On 18 August 2015, a little more than two months after their discovery the nighthawks were arrested. On their arrest, one of them told the police, “I ain’t gonna make it easy.”
The police’s investigation soon lead them to the Cardiff antiques dealer with the hidden coins. When confronted by the police he retrieved the five silver coins from their hiding place in the magnifying glass case.

The police’s carried out an extensive investigation. Key pieces of evidence were recovered from their mobile phones. A forensic examination of their mobile phones revealed deleted photographs of the coins, silver ingots and the jewellery laying on a white plastic shopping bag near a freshly dug hole and covered in soil. There were also photographs of the of the field where they had made the find. These photographs allowed the find site to be identified and proper archaeological investigations to take place; no other objects were found when the area was searched.

Prosecution and convictions

In October 2019, the two nighthawks, the Cardiff antiques dealer and the part time antiques trader from East Sussex stood trial in Worcester Crown Court.

The nighthawks were charged with theft and with conspiracy to conceal and convert criminal property. The Cardiff antiques dealer was charged with concealing and converting criminal property, and the part time antiques trader from East Sussex, was charged with concealment. All four denied the charges.

At the end of nearly seven weeklong trail all four were found guilty. The nighthawks were sentenced to 10 and 8½ years respectively in prison. This was reduced on appeal to 6 and 5 years. Both received a Confiscation Order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and have to replay £600,000 each. In May 2024, their appeal against the £600,000 repayment order was rejected. Failure to pay this will lead to further time in prison.
The Cardiff antiques dealer was given a 12-month suspended prison sentence. While, the part time antiques trader from East Sussex received a 5-year prison sentence.

The hunt continues

Since the discovery of the Hoard most of the treasure remains missing. Despite the long legal process and on-going investigations only a fraction of the estimated 300 coins has been recovered. The hunt for the hoard continues.

References

"Secrets, Lies and Greed: The Amazing Story of the Herefordshire Hoard" – Hereford Times.
"The Herefordshire Hoard: How a Historic Treasure Find Went Wrong" – National Heritage Memorial Fund.
"The Herefordshire Viking Hoard" – Current Archaeology.
"Four Convicted Over Theft of £3 Million Viking Treasure Trove" – London Evening Standard.
“Herefordshire Hoard to go on display at JORVIK Viking Centre” – York Archaeology
“Hunt continues for missing Viking hoard artefacts” – BBC News.
“The Curse of the Buried Treasure” – The New Yorker.