Coroner declares Belbroughton find as treasure (From Bromsgrove Advertiser)
Get involved! Send your photos, video, news & views by texting BA NEWS to 80360 or e-mail us
Coroner declares Belbroughton find as treasure
7:00pm Friday 28th September 2012 in News
Treasure coins: The Worcestershire Coroner has declared 15 coins found in Belbroughton as treasure. Ref:s
A CORONER has declared a find of 15 coins and fragments in Bromsgrove as treasure.
The coins were found at Waystone Farm, Belbroughton in May 2011.
The silver coins have been dated back to the reign of King Henry III, and were issued between 1447-1279.
Some of the coins are whole pennies, while some are deliberately cut fractions, halfpennies or farthings.
The Worcestershire Coroner, in deciding whether the find was treasure, consulted Dr Barrie Cook, a curator at the department of coins and medals at the British Museum.
Dr Cook wrote: “All the coins are of good silver, the English and Irish coinages of Henry III being struck to a standard of over 90 per cent fine metals.
“All of the coins would have been in currency together.
“It is my opinion that the find represents treasure according to the terms of the act.”
For an item to qualify as treasure it has to be at least 300 years old.
Anyone who finds treasure should declare it to their coroner within 14 days, and take their find to a local museum or archaeological body.
The coins were declared as treasure, and seized on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, by the Worcestershire Coroner on September 14.
