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Man inspired by Detectorists finds £63k coin haul

Louise Parry
BBC News, Buckinghamshire
Steve Hickman Steve Hickman, a man standing in a green field with a shovel and a metal detector. He is looking directly at the camera and is wearing blue jeans, a blue T-shirt, a khaki gilet, a pair of sunglasses and a black baseball cap. Steve Hickman
Some of the 16th Century and 17th Century coins found by Steve Hickman, fetched more than £1,000 each at auction

A treasure hunter inspired by the BBC comedy Detectorists found a valuable Civil War coin haul just two months after taking up the hobby.

The hoard of 16th Century and 17th Century silver coins, which were discovered near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, fetched £63,000 at auction in Essex on Thursday.

Steve Hickman, 60, searched farmland in March 2023 and could not believe his luck when he found the haul. He added: "It's a ridiculous story. I was detecting in a field with power cables above when I got this really puzzling signal.

"I looked up, thinking it was going to be those cables, but decided to dig because when you're starting out, you need to try everything to learn the good from the bad."

BBC/ Jack Barnes The two main actors in Detectorists Mackenzie Crook and Toby Jones pose in character kneeling on a field with their tools. Crook holds a spade and next to Jones is a yellow digging tool and black detecting kit. They wear boots and outdoor, khaki coloured clothes.BBC/ Jack Barnes
Steve said the "perfect comedy" show Detectorists inspired him to take up metal detecting

After digging about 9in (22cm) to "pinpointer depth", he got no signal, so he filled the hole in and carried on around the field.

But he had second thoughts and returned to the spot.

"Water was coming through the hole and I saw these grey slots poking out through the water," he recalled.

"Then I saw the edges of an orange pot- I sat back and felt disbelief."

He later found the orange pot housed no fewer than 1,064 silver coins dating back to the reign of Elizabeth I.

The latest coins were minted in the autumn of 1642, the beginning of the English Civil War and just prior to the Battle of Aylesbury, which took place a few miles away at Holman's Bridge.

Essex Coin Auctions A front and back image of a Charles I silver shilling, worn at the edges but with clear markings. His profile is on the front with the letters XII and on the back is a coat of arms.Essex Coin Auctions
Many Charles I shillings were among the hoard
Steve Hickman Steve Hickman, a man stood over a wooden table. On the table is a blue tablecloth which has a hoard of coins on top of it. He is wearing a blue T-shirt and pair of glasses and is looking over the hoard towards the camera. Steve Hickman
Steve found more than 1,000 silver coins inside a broken pottery vessel near Aylesbury

Amongst the coins were 409 silver shillings, including rare coins struck locally in Oxford.

There were also very rare issues from the Aberystwyth mint in Wales.

The coins were all recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme, and Mr Hickman said the proceeds of the auction would be shared with the owner of the farm.

"I'd got written permission from the landowner, and everything over a £100 value gets split 50/50," he explained.

Discovering £63,000 coin hoard near Aylesbury

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