The Lenborough Hoard is a hoard of more than 5,000 late Anglo-Saxon silver coins from the eleventh century that was found at Lenborough in Buckinghamshire, England in 2014, believed to be one of the largest hoards of Anglo-Saxon coins ever found in Britain.
The treasure was discovered on December 21, 2014, on farmland in Buckinghamshire's Lenborough Farm, between Buckingham and Padbury, during a metal prospecting rally organized by Weekend Wanderers Club discover with about a hundred people attending. One of the participants, Paul Coleman, found the coins in a lead container buried 2 feet (0.61 m) underground.
Coleman said he "found a piece of lead and thought it was junk. But then I looked around and saw one shiny coin. Then I picked up a bigger piece of lead and saw rows of coins stacked neatly on top of each other." According to Pete Welch, the club's founder, the coins were in remarkably good condition: "They looked like mirrors, no scratches and very carefully buried in a lead container, deep inside. It appears that only two. people handled these coins, the man who made them and the man who buried them." They were found protected in a "lead section" in the local heavy clay soil.
Buckinghamshire County Museum archaeologist Ros Tyrrell, the Buckinghamshire Finds Liaison Officer for the Portable Antiquities Program , was present during the rally to record any items discovered and excavated the treasure immediately after it was discovered. The treasure was taken to the British Museum for study and preservation.
The treasure consists of 5,252 silver coins, of which 5,251 are whole and one is part of a coin cut in half . They date from the first half of the eleventh century and include many coins from the reigns of two Anglo-Saxon kings, Ethelred the Unready (reigned 978-1013 and 1014-1016) and Cnut the Great (reigned 1016-1035). The coins were wrapped in a sheet of lead.
Because the treasure consists of precious metal over 300 years old, it will be evaluated by the coroner under the provisions of the Treasure Act of 1996 to determine if it is a treasure . If so, the treasure will be appraised by the Treasure Appraisal Committee , and the museum may apply to acquire it by paying an appraisal amount to be divided equally between the discoverer and the landowner. The coins are in such good condition that their total value is estimated at perhaps £1.3 million.
