The Killingholme Hoard ~ A First Hand Account of its Discovery
The Killingholme Hoard
This post is particualrly special and whilst subsequent visitors will realise this without me mentioning it I just wanted to get across to some of our regular readers just how fabulous this is.
It is a guest article written by Chris Keyworth - why not write it yourself I hear you ask ?
Well, Chris actually found this famous hoard of coins ! Please do read on it’s a riveting read
Just to further impress the import of this find the story goes on after Chris’ find and involves the British Museum, Spink’s and quite possibly even Bulgari !
The coins are now all over the world and mentioned all over the internet - so without further ado I hand you over to Chris Keyworth to tell the story in his own words.
The Truth about the Killingholme Hoard
14th October 1993 14.50
There’s a large field between Killingholme and Habrough which was always very daunting and though I’d had looked at
on a map many times I always dismissed it as too large to cover effectively on my own as a one acre field may take a good
2 weeks to cover, this field was huge - well over 100 acres !
The field had some interesting features, one being a vast glacial valley something that is not common in the hinterlands of the Humber.
The soil was thick alluvial clay dotted with glacial pebbles, in one area of the field a trig point can be found standing in complete isolation
and whilst detecting this field I got to know exactly how that lonely point felt.
By the size of this field, it was decided that to stand any chance of finding anything on here we would need to divide the field up due to size and complexity
to the boundaries.
We could not employ the usual tactics of dividing the field by doing a union jack so I headed for the valley floor and decided to go for the high points
in the field. First I went south as I came over the brow of the hill I started finding lead fragments, something common on all sites, I carried on going over the top of the hill and noticed some
stone on the surface along with Roman pottery and oyster shells.
The finds I was getting were not worth spending anytime on so I about turned and started to head down into the valley
bottom. From there I went west for nearly half a mile and past the trig point and never even found a brass button.
Changing direction again I headed east, as I reached the valley floor I noticed something strange on the east peak - a hump on the top of the hill.
So I set off up the hill thinking this is it - “if I don’t found anything this time I’m going home !
When I reached the top of the hill nothing struck me as abnormal, in fact you could hardly see it from the surrounding area.
Standing at what I deemed to be the peak of the hill I started getting signals - the first one I dug was just the usual lead.
Not put off I carried on detecting and got another another signal . . .
It it turned out to be a nice coin of Hella London mint !
Presuming it to be a one off find I carried on and towards the north and after about ten minutes found another coin.
This time of Constantine the Great, Roma seated on the reverse the she wolf suckling Romulus and Remus.
At this point the excitement began to build, the two coins were in unprecedented in such good condition - as if they’d been struck yesterday !
An Actual Coin from the Killingholme Hoard
Was Adrian playing games on me, things didn’t add up and I was getting tired so I headed of back across the field but after two paces beep -
it was another good signal and yes another coin.
I decided then to take a step back and think for a moment.
As every land detectorist will tell you, they have a plan in case they happen upon a hoard, mine involved a stick and a piece of string.
Realising I had neither on me I had to improvise so I looked at where the other two coins had been found and I walked across to the first find spot staring at the ground.
Almost instantly I saw another coin on the surface I knelt down to pick it up and spotted another then another and another . . .
I remember thinking then “we’ve got a hoard here” so I called Adrian over, picked my metal detector up and started searching again
Straight away I got a signal, dug it and was instantly presented with a problem, in one hand I had a signal to deal with and in the other
I got yet another signal something which had never happened to me before.
I put one handful of dirt in my pocket so as to concentrate on the other hand full soon realising there was more than one coin in this handful.
I removed my cap and split the soil putting one load in my hat, when Adrian, who was only 20 yards away and digging, shouted “I’ve got a coin”To which I replied “only one” !
By this time I had about 30 coins in my pocket, mud in my hat, pockets and on my gloves - he came over to me and said “what are you doing?”
Bear in mind I was very naive at that age, far from professional and it was showing big time.
I muttered: “I think I’ve found a hoard” and explained I had about 30 coins in my pocket and at least one in every other pocket hat and glove.
He was sceptical at first suggesting it may be a purse rather than a hoard and walked off detecting.
I stood up and walked off but forgot my detector had an idle cut off on it which had turned it off, realising I’d not had a signal for ten minutes I turned on my machine again and instantly found a coin.
Then another and another, the story goes on like this for a good two hours until . . .
Bang ! I get a massive signal to big to be a coin !
I dug it thinking it would be a plough shear or the like then oh my god I remember thinking as I dug the hole - the soil was tinted green
I found a fragment of pottery and examined it as this was also tinted green on the inner surface, I knew at this point I’d found a pot and started to widen the hole scanning every bit of dirt that came out - and finding coins in every handful.
Before long I had a full pocket full of coins with more coming out of the ground every minute, then I saw it in the bottom of the hole - a ring approximately 8 inches in diameter.
It was packed full of coins !
A plough had cut the top off the pot and scattered the coins all over but on lifting the pot and placing it in my jacket I estimated there to be about a thousand coins in it !
At this point we decided to call it a day and headed off home, the coins were placed in the bath for safe keeping and to make them easier to clean.
Whilst cleaning them I noticed that the coins had been placed in the pot in a set order they seemed to be spiralled around the pot, unfortunately information was lost at this point as the coins were empted into the bath.
Looking back now it would have been interesting to know if they were placed in date order of just put in the pot for safe keeping.
I’d like to think that it was a ships hoard as it was in the same valley that would have lead down to Immingham creek.
The story carries on much the same for several weeks with coins turning up almost on a minute by minute basis - the total find in the pot was 2753 coins and about 1504 in the top soil !
We were still digging coins out a year later on the same date.
As to value of the hoard I cant go into precise details but let’s say it was in the 10s of thousands unlike the final sale price which was in the 100s of thousands.
It just goes to show that going the way of an auction is not always the best way - I only wish we had put a reserve on it !
I would add that if I could buy back every coin now I most certainly would.
I am pleased to answer any questions on this apart from the exact location which remains a closely guarded secret
Regards
Chris keyworth
Rod said,
September 19, 2009 @ 7:38 pm
Now tell me that’s not something else !
My, and I’m sure everybody who reads it, appreciation goes out to Chris for not only taking the time to write it but also share the story which appears here for the first time in print !
Many thanks Chris
Rod
Little Brother said,
September 19, 2009 @ 9:23 pm
Chris,
An amazing story and discovery, quite incredible really. Are these the earliest coins you have come across?
Thanks for a great read.
Miles
chris keyworth said,
September 19, 2009 @ 9:38 pm
Hi Miles
Not by a long shot mate, the earliest ive had would be an Ironage Gold North Lincolnshire Scyphate infact ive had Three of these over the years, like ive just told Rod my Jurnals are full of coins as they are easy to do rubbings of them, you would not believe what ive found over the years let alone what ive seen come out of the ground it is tottaly mind bending the amount of stuff in the ground that you can find if you put the time and effort into looking for it..
regards
chris
Little Brother said,
September 19, 2009 @ 10:08 pm
Chris,
Quite remarkable, I think it’s great that you guys are doing this. There is so much history literally under our feet yet we chose to ignore it and it’s such a shame.
I often wonder how ‘money’ came into being, who thought of using coins as a means of trading. Whoever it was they’ve got a lot to answer for!!!
regards
Miles
chris keyworth said,
September 19, 2009 @ 10:18 pm
Believe it or not that coin up ther is about the size of a penny, a hundred years later it would have been the size of your little fingernail, a hundred years earlyer it would have been the size of an old 10p coin that is devaluation for you eventualy they put less copper in the coins and trust me they dont survive in the ground as well, the romans suffered with recession as well
chris keyworth said,
September 19, 2009 @ 10:54 pm
a few points of fact about the hoard which i forgot to mention above.
Most of the coins in the Hoard were silver washed, i believe how they did this was melting silver into mercury then dipping the coins into the metal coating the coin in a fine film of silver, they used to do this to gold plate items too.
The Scatter Coins in the Hoard were conserved for display in the Immingham Museum, they were washed in a neutral solution and coated with a very fine layer of bees wax so as to stop the acid in the air degraiding them thats why the scatter coins apear to be a darker colour than the pot coins, and have a nice luster to them, the coin above is out of the actual pot and you can still see some of the silver coating on it.
regards
chris
the dinosaur said,
September 20, 2009 @ 10:15 am
Hi Chris, what a fascinating and thrilling account, its very good of you to share the personal sense of excitement at finding the hoard, better than just a factual report, its an inspiration to anyone with an interest in history, that its not just to be found in books and on T.V. but out there to be found, even in a field! I’m sure a lot of people would think the financial aspect of such a find is the biggest thrill but I’m certain even if the coins had been worth nothing it would have been just as exciting and worthwhile to you, as it would to me or to Rod, money can’t buy that sort of sense of achievement nor does it last so long. Well done and thank you.
chris keyworth said,
September 20, 2009 @ 12:43 pm
Hi Dino
you could not imagine how much it took to stay on the field, after that find i can honestly say that the field is less than 2% covered as we speak as when ever i decide to go back the find spot always draws me back and i end up covering it all over again a bee to honey springs to mind or moth to the flame which ever you prefare, i hope to have a few hours on there soon injury permitting just to see if i can find a few straglers, i will update on here if i do but at the mo i have a thousand and one things to do much the same as Rodand no time to do them
regards
chris
Femme Fatale said,
September 21, 2009 @ 12:28 pm
Chris,
What a fabulous article, a truly interesting read. The coins are lovely, the detail is amazing.
Are you a human encyclopeadia? Your posts are always full of such detailed facts.
Thank you for the information, it was all unknown to me.
FF
xx
chris keyworth said,
September 21, 2009 @ 4:35 pm
hi ff
i have several passions in my life, one being history, Boaring some of you may think, but my other passions make up for the shortcommings, as mentioned before i was a Profesional Soldier serving with the RAF, but now sort of Retiered at the Age of 34, due to injury. i currently play Paintball an Extreeme Sport in its self, My next Personal goal is to be the General of the Armed forces in Rods new Kingdom so that we can go to war with the Willows and clean the place up, What says you Sir Rod…….
Chris
Rod said,
September 21, 2009 @ 6:17 pm
Chris,
without doubt head of armed forces though the first job will be to secure the border and keep out undesirables.
I may well consider conquering new territory in due course - if the spoils of war are worth it of course
Thanks for sharing this post again Chris and great to see so many have enjoyed it - as will many others over the years
All the best
Rod
Mike said,
March 9, 2010 @ 7:53 pm
Hi Chris We know each other from ages ago what happened to the pot the coins where found in.
chris keyworth said,
March 10, 2010 @ 11:03 am
it was sold mate with the hoard
regards
chris
Ginger said,
March 23, 2010 @ 11:43 pm
Chris,
Wonderful article. I am glad to learn what I can about this hoard. I am pleased to tell you that I purchased one, Constantine II. It will now be the pride of my collection. It is a beautiful coin.
Ginger
chris keyworth said,
March 24, 2010 @ 12:55 pm
thanks for posting pleased you like the coin, which one did you get….
regards
chris
History Hunter said,
April 5, 2010 @ 10:50 pm
Chris, did you have to get permission from the farmer to dig in the field?
chris keyworth said,
April 6, 2010 @ 12:28 pm
Hi Tony
yes i did have to get permision off the land owner
regards
chris
jody said,
June 6, 2010 @ 4:12 pm
A great find Chris, I can only dream of such finds, what a feeling that must have been that day.
matthewH said,
June 13, 2010 @ 7:37 pm
Congratulations on the find! Although I reside in the US, I am glutton for Roman British history. Were I there, I would purchase a metal detector and drag it everywhere I went. Goodness knows how many hoards are waiting to be found.
chris keyworth said,
June 14, 2010 @ 4:12 pm
Thanks for your comments Guys, yes it was truely fantastic.
Regards
Chris
Pierre said,
June 24, 2010 @ 2:03 am
– excuse my English, I’m French —
wow ! What an amazing story. I live at Quebec city, Canada, and I am a Roman coins collector since 2005. In year 2006, I purchased a coin from Yorkoins (a Constantius II). I just was excited to know the place were my coin have been find. Since this time I used to know more about this Killingholme hoard. I had a correspondance with a guy from the Britidh Museum, and another one with the Lincolnshire Council. I can’t estimate the number of times I have enter “Killingholme” in Google… but today is my day. I am writing, NOW, to the actuel detectorist… incredible. Over years, I have cover a modern map of the Killingholme area, with an another map showing Roman Britain. I wonder to know where the Roman who digged his coins were living, somewhere in year 334. Maybe Caistor, maybe not. Who know ? Some idea ?
To help me more, is it possible to indicate me on the following map the exact place were the hoard have been found ?
http://www.dialogus2.org/killingholme.jpg
Great thanks
Pierre
Rod said,
June 24, 2010 @ 4:40 pm
Hi Pierre,
if Chris Keyworth sees your comment then I’m sure he’ll reply but I would imagine the exact location of the find will be a closely guarded secret Pierre.
Thanks for taking the time to comment and welcome to the site Pierre and your English is excellent
All the best
Rod
Pierre said,
June 25, 2010 @ 1:30 am
Thanks Rod. I imagine of course that it’s kinda secret, so, North or South of A180 ?
bye
Pierre
chris Keyworth said,
June 25, 2010 @ 11:15 am
Hi Pierre
as rod said i dont give out the location openly but i am happy to answer any other questions put to me North BTW…
Regards
Chris
History Hunter said,
June 25, 2010 @ 5:55 pm
Chris, for anyone who has actually passed the field where the hoard was found, and also collated your detailing of the whereabouts of it that you provide, its quite easy to find the general area where the coins appeared. May be worth removing a few details from the description.
The use of Google Earth, an online topographical map, and common sense, and having seen the field in passing many times in person, about 97% of the field can be discounted immediately.
Rod, if you find it necessary to remove this post then please do so, but i suggest some clever editing of the description that Chris put on here also.
chris keyworth said,
June 25, 2010 @ 6:33 pm
There are already a good few miss leading turns in the story the location would be very hard to find without extreme local knollage like my own if anyone went looking for the exact site they would find them selves lost without the exact Grids from me, many have looked and failed trust me.
Regards
Chris
J Lincoln said,
June 29, 2010 @ 2:29 am
Chris,
Is this are considered part of Lincolnshire?
From across the pond,
JL
chris keyworth said,
June 29, 2010 @ 8:33 am
Hi yes its very much part of linolnshire but not the wolds it is the flatlands near the port of immingham, there are many roman settlements in the area however the nearest being a good 20 mins walk away from the hoard find spot i like to think that the hoard was part of a ships chest as many of the coins where from france and rome its self,by in large this hoard was relativly small for the area infact the smallest ive seen localy most are 10,000 coins upwards…
regards
chris