Alexander Granhof and his grandfather Jens were puttering around the site of the Battle of Lund after a recent ploughing when Alexander stumbled on some silver coins
They called the National Heritage Board, and the next day archaeologists confirmed that the coins were part of a huge buried treasure trove of over 7,000 14th c. silver coins from Denmark, England, Germany and the Netherlands.
“I suspect we may have doubled the number of English coins from the Middle Ages ever found in Sweden,” said Anglert, who estimated that 1,200 of the coins had come from across the North Sea.
English sterling coins were used as something of a global currency at the time, said the archaeologist.
“The ones we found were in their own separate container,” said Anglert.
They don’t know why the treasure was buried, but it probably wasn’t a religious sacrifice because even the most pious medieval Swedes weren’t quite that generous with their offerings.
Here’s Alexander with his find looking the cat who swallowed the canary:
I need to get out more. Wonder if anyone is doing any plowing where I live in the near future …
We don’t get much in the way of ancient buried treasure here like they do in fureign parts. You’d probably just find parts that fell off earlier plows.
Well, living in the South Atlantic area of the US, we had pirates here! Arrr! Ok, they probably didn’t come this far inland but … worth a shot!
Yeah! And if not, those plowshare parts might come in handy.
Anyone know what the kid got for turning the coins in? $$
None of the articles I read mentioned a finder’s fee. I know in England people can get a percentage of the value of a find under certain circumstances, but I have no idea if Sweden has any similar provisions.
Seems unlikely to me. England’s system is unusual.
Well then, I hope he kept one or two coins for himself.