Skip to content

History professor's Iron Age hoard sells for £33k

Katy Prickett
News imageTom Licence A man stands outside with a large hedge blurred in the background. He is wearing wire rimmed glasses, has short grey hair and a beard. He is wearing a patterned red jumper.Tom Licence
Prof Tom Licence said he liked to imagine the coins belonged to his ancestors, who came from the Bury St Edmunds area

A hoard of 18 Iron Age gold coins discovered in a field by a metal detecting history professor has sold for £33,200 at auction.

The coins are the largest known find from the reign of Iron Age king Dubnovellaunos, who ruled the Trinovantes tribe in eastern England between 25BC and AD10.

Known as The Bury St Edmunds Hoard after the Suffolk town, the coins went under the hammer at auctioneer Noonans Mayfair. The money raised was shared with the landowner.

The finder Prof Tom Licence, from the University of East Anglia, said: "With the share which the landowner is generously granting me, I will be supporting archaeological work in Suffolk."

News imageTom Licence A collection of the coins against a blue background.Tom Licence
The 18-coin hoard was expected to make £25,000 at auction, but instead sold for £33,200

Licence, a professor of medieval history and literature at the Norwich-based university, found the hoard in the autumn of 2024.

Among the find were 16 coins known as staters and one quarter-stater.

The professor, who was born in Essex, found the field while looking for somewhere to take his niece metal detecting.

He first found some Viking hack silver and then struck gold.

News imageTom Licence A muddy gold Iron Age coin sitting against a clump of earth, which is resting on grassy soil. Tom Licence
The coins were found in two parcels in a field near the Suffolk town

Towards the end of the day, he took the coins to show the landowner and his wife, returning to the site a few months later and finding one more stater.

"It was an honour to see expert collectors taking these coins into their care," the detectorist said.

"So much of the research on ancient coins is done by the collecting community, all around the world. Without their contribution, we would know very little."

News imageNoonans Two views of an Iron Age gold coin. On the left the face shows a six-armed wreath spiral, three crescents at centre. On the right, the face shows a horse rearing up on its hind legs. Noonans
An Addedomaros gold stater was bought by a collector in Switzerland for £3,400 having been expected to fetch between £1,000-£1,500

The Trinovantes tribe were based in what is now mostly Essex and Suffolk.

Among the hoard's highlights was a Addedomaros wheel stater, which confirmed the spelling of the name on that early type, which was previously uncertain. It was estimated to fetch up to 3,600, but instead made £4,600.

News imageNoonans A gold coin with artwork. One one side there is a drawing that appears to be a horse and other markings including lines and dots are visible. The reverse side show pattern across the middle of the coin.Noonans
The Dubnovellaunos stater was one of the more special finds of the hoard

A Dubnovellaunos stater, with a previously unrecorded die, fetched £3,400, against an estimate of up to £2,000.

They were bought by the same anonymous collector from the United States.

All the auctioned coins were sold, but Licence and the landowner chose to keep a single stater each.

Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

More on this story
Related internet links