A history professor found an Iron Age treasure. Gold coins can fetch hundreds of thousands

A British history professor has discovered a rare Iron Age treasure while searching with a metal detector near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. It is the largest set of Celtic gold coins ever found from the reign of King Dubnovellan.

Tom Licence, a 46-year-old professor of medieval history and literature at the University of East Anglia, stumbled across the hoard last autumn. He originally went to the field to find a suitable place to detect with his niece, who was just beginning her search. He has been searching with a metal detector himself since he was a child. That day, he first discovered Viking silver fragments. Soon after, his detector was signaling gold.

"I was amazed when I found my first gold staters," Licence said. After adjusting the instrument's settings, he began systematically going through the marked rows of the field. Within a short time, he found six more coins. By nightfall, it was clear that this was no accidental find. On the next visit to the site, the number of coins rose to a total of eighteen.

The find was named Bury St Edmunds Hoard. The assemblage consists of 17 gold staters and one quarter staters. The coins date from the reign of King Dubnovellaun, who ruled the Trinovantes in what is now Essex and Suffolk between 25 BC and AD 10. Experts say it is the largest known coin find from his era to date.

Among the most valuable pieces is the so-called Addedomaros wheel stater, which is estimated to fetch between £3,000 and £3,600 (up to 100,000 crowns). Also exceptional is the Dubnovellauna staters struck by a hitherto unknown mint, estimated to be worth between £1,500 and £2,000 (up to 55,000 crowns).

The coins have been duly reported under the British Portable Antiquities Scheme. The professor and the landowner will each keep one coin, with the rest going to auction at Noonans in London. The set is expected to fetch at least £25,000, or about 700,000 crowns.

The auction is scheduled for 4 March as part of the sale of coins and historical medals. The professor plans to donate part of the proceeds to support archaeological research in the region. "I was born in Essex but my family has roots in the Bury St Edmunds area and I like to imagine that the coins were buried by one of my ancestors," he concluded.

Sources: bbc.co.uk, uea.ac.uk

Professor Tom Licence

Dubnovellaun's statue

The staters were imprisoned in lumps of earth

The largest known set of coins of the ruler of Dubnovellaun