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Recent Finds: Portable Antiquities Scheme
General Information
The Portable Antiquities Scheme helps administer the Treasure Act alongside the Coroners Service. The Treasure Act replaced Treasure Trove in 1996 and since then many thousands of artefacts have been declared treasure nationally. If you would like to know more please contact Peter Reavill, Finds Liaison Officer for Herefordshire and Shropshire. Peter’s main job is to record archaeological artefacts found by the public. He can be contacted via email peter.reavill@shropshire.gov.uk or phone 01584 813641.
Recent Finds
Two recent treasure finds reported through the Portable Antiquities Scheme are to be acquired by Hereford Museum. They have been declared Treasure by the Coroner for Herefordshire and are awaiting valuation. Once valued the Museum service will raise money which is paid to both the finder and landowner as a reward.
Full finds records for both these cases can be found at:
- http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/410419
- http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/430200
- http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/421769
Toilet Implement from Hereford
This is an unusual silver artefact with several uses. One end has a small oval spoon or scoop, this is designed for the owner to clean the wax from their ears (a rather drastic version of our modern cotton bud) the other end, now lost, would have terminated in a small hooked point which could have been used either as a toothpick or as a nail cleaner. This example is a relatively rare survivor of the Tudor or Stuart period being dated to the 16th or 17th centuries. It was found by a metal detectorist on farmland close to Hereford.
Richards Castle Coin Hoard
This group of coins was discovered on farm land by a local metal detectorists and reported in two batches to the coroner for Herefordshire. The hoard consists of eleven silver coins (groats and half-groats) struck between 1471 and 1507 during the reigns of Edward IV, Second Reign (1571-83), and Henry VII (1485-1509). Within the group there are also two coins (double patards) of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. These 'foreign' coins were legal tender in England as equivalent to the groat (i.e. four-pence). The group had a face value of about 3 shillings (36 pence) a relatively large sum of savings for a farm worker. The coins were most likely buried after 1507; this period is relatively peaceful after the turmoil of the War of the Roses. The presence of Burgundian coins in the local economy is not unusual, especially considering the proximity to Ludlow, the seat of the Council of the Marches.
Image Copyright of the Portable Antiquities Scheme