Coroner rules coins found at Silverdale are treasure (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Coroner rules coins found at Silverdale are treasure

9:30pm Wednesday 6th October 2010 in Silverdale news By Bethany Abbit, Reporter

A CORONER has ruled that a hoard of coins discovered by a North Lancashire man constitutes treasure.

John Harrison, of Kellett Road, Carnforth, found the five post-medieval coins on January 8 while searching land owned by the RSPB at Silverdale.

An inquest at Preston Coroner’s Court heard how Mr Harrison handed over the coins, which included a Queen Mary I groat, a sixpence, one threepence and one threehalfpence from Queen Elizabeth I’s reign, to Lancaster City Museum.

The coins were discovered in the same spot where Mr Harrison found a similar batch which were confirmed as treasure on September 11, 2009.

He went back two days later and found six coins, up to 700-years-old.

They include three pennies from Edward I’s reign and two from Edward III’s.

Dot Boughton, finds liaison officer at the Museum of Lancashire, inspected the coins and said they were silver, made up of 92.5% fine metal.

Mr Harrison, 60, has spent decades searching for hidden treasure, mapping the north Lancashire area, and carrying out archaeological digs.

“It’s fascinating to think who has tread here before us, hundreds of years ago,” said Mr Harrison. “I’ve found lots of items and once I found a 4,500-year-old dagger and it was one of the first items that mankind ever made from metals, so that was very exciting too.”

Mr Harrison - who also discovered a hoard of 30 ancient Barbarous Radiates coins in August - had the find declared as treasure by the coroner.

Passing his verdict, Simon Jones, the deputy coroner for Lancashire, said: “I am satisfied that they are your (Mr Harrison’s) find and that they do constitute treasure.”

Dot Boughton, finds liaison officer at Lancaster City Museum, said: “It is really quite significant because we don’t have that much material evidence up in the Morecambe Bay area.”

Under the Treasure Act 1996, one role of a coroner is to decide if artefacts found are indeed treasure. For an item to be treasure, it must be at least 300-years-old and must contain more than 10% precious metal if it is a coin found in a set fewer than 10.

Anyone who finds treasure must declare it to their local coroner within 14 days.

They will normally be asked to take their find to a local museum or archaeological body.

If the museum curator or archaeologist believes that the find may be treasure, they will inform the British Museum or the National Museums & Galleries of Wales.

The museums will then decide whether they or any other museum may wish to acquire it.

If a museum wants to acquire part or all of a find, then the coroner will hold an inquest to decide whether it is treasure.

If it is, it is then valued by an independent committee and the finder is then paid.