Iron Age Gold Coins Found in Wales Officially Declared Treasure by Experts

Declan Gallagher
·2 min read
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A haul of Iron Age gold coins discovered in Wales, the first found in the country, has officially been declared treasure.

The cache of 15 coins, also known as staters, was unearthed between July 2021 and March 2022 by Welsh metal detector hobbyists in Anglesey. The Portable Antiquities Scheme, an organization run by the British Museum and Museum Wales, then took possession of the staters.

This week, North West Wales senior coroner Kate Roberts confirmed that the coins are indeed treasure. According to the Welsh Treasure Act of 1996, any precious metal deemed to be from a prehistoric date is classified as treasure. Additionally, a synchronous find of 10 or more coins over 300 years old which contain less than 10 percent of gold or silver is also considered treasure.

“I’d been over this field a few times and not found much of interest, and then one evening literally struck gold! I rushed home to show my wife and we were both in awe of this coin, which was like nothing else I had found, immaculately preserved with such unusual stylized images,” Tim Watson, one of the detectorists who discovered the coins, remarked in a statement.

The coins were struck between 60 B.C. and 20 B.C. across three separate mints in what is now Lincolnshire, England. They belonged to the Corieltauvi tribe, who inhabited the area near the end of the Iron Age. Tribes in Wales during that time didn’t make coins of their own, which is why discoveries like this are quite rare in the country. Iron Age coins are most commonly found in Britain, on pre-Roman settlement sites. Experts say that the staters were not used as currency, but were gifts exchanged between elite members of society.

Anglesey's Oriel Môn museum will acquire the treasure. Ian Jones, the museum’s collections manager, expressed his excitement for the new exhibit. “The coins are of national importance, and we are excited about acquiring them for Anglesey’s museum collection and to put them on public display.”