Spectacular Anglo Saxon Hoard Found in Staffordshire

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How significant is the Staffordshire Hoard?

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sourced by Barbara McPherson

An amateur relic hunter Terry Herbert has stumbled upon a spectacular Anglo Saxon gold hoard in Staffordshire, England.  The hoard, possibly from the Seventh Century was found in an undisclosed farmer's field.  It has been declared treasure which means that the finder and the landowner will share in the value of the find.

The find has been compared to the treasure trove of Sutton Hoo, discovered in the late 1930s.

"The weapons and helmet decorations, coins and Christian crosses amount to more than 1500 pieces, with hundreds still embedded in blocks of soil. It adds up to 5kg of gold – three times the amount found in the famous Sutton Hoo ship burial in 1939 – and 2.5kg of silver, and may be the swag from a spectacularly successful raiding party of warlike Mercians, some time around AD700." Guardian Newspaper

The field's whereabouts is being kept secret until archaeologists can determine if all of the treasure trove has been found.  The museum at Birmingham will display the items and then they will be off to the British Museum for further study and valuation.  The rough estimates are in the millions of pounds.