Detectorist uncovers what could be Wales’s biggest treasure hoard buried in a muddy field

A detectorist said he had “goosebumps” after uncovering Wales’ biggest treasure hoard.

David Moss, 36, used his metal detector to find two clay pots containing around 15,000 Roman coins in an “almost untouched” area of ​​North Wales.

Fearing the coins would be stolen, he slept with them in his car for three days before handing them over to experts at the National Museum in Cardiff.

It is stated that this cargo, which is said to weigh more than 60 kg and is still being examined by experts, may be the largest treasure collection ever unearthed in Wales.

“A rainbow appeared minutes before the signal was found,” Mr Moss told the BBC. “I couldn’t believe it.”

After about six-and-a-half hours of excavation, Mr Moss and his friend Ian Nicholson uncovered two potters containing the hoard.

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“It really felt like a sign,” he said. “Persistence paid off, and what we came up with was beyond anything I ever imagined.”

Mr Moss took the coins to his home in Cheshire and slept in the car with them because he “didn’t want to let them out of my sight”.

Anthony Halse, chairman of the South Wales and Monmouthshire Numismatic Association, told the BBC he believed the find could be the largest ever unearthed in Wales.

He explained how experts at the museum determined the dates of the coins: “They will clean them, then they will contact the British Museum and ask if they can keep them because it is such a large hoard.

“Then they’ll go to the board of directors and make an offer to the person who finds it. He’ll get half the money, and the landowner will get the other half.”

A number of important historical finds have been made in Wales in recent years. Nearly 6,000 coins were found buried in a field in the Valley of Glamorgan in 2008, and two detectorists were recently jailed for failing to declare Viking treasure worth millions.

The law says that when you find buried treasure, you must report it to the coroner within 14 days and turn it over to the state. It is then valued and purchased by a museum, and the income is shared between the finder and the land owner.