CAPPERCLEUCH, SCOTLAND—Two amateur metal detectorists searching an area in the Scottish Borders region chanced upon what is being called the “find of a lifetime,” according to a report in The Scotsman. The pair pinpointed a nearly 600-year-old treasure of 30 gold and silver coins that were minted in the fifteenth century. They notified the archaeological authorities, who retrieved additional buried coins at the site. Some of the coins were English groats minted by Kings Henry V and Edward IV, while others were Scottish gold demys and half-demys issued by Kings James I and James II. “Coin hoards containing a mix of both English and Scottish coins are not unusual, but we do not see many hoards from this period in Scotland, so it’s a fascinating find,” said Anthony Lee of Scotland’s Treasure Trove Unit. Experts believe the treasure may have been buried for safekeeping some time in the 1460s, a period of extreme political and military upheaval that included the War of the Roses and ongoing violent conflicts between Scotland and England. To read about restoration of a grand fifteenth-century estate, go to "The Many Lives of an English Manor House."
