METAL detectorists have found a haul of coins dating back to nearly a 1,000 years ago – and they’re now set to fetch £500,000.
The group of treasure hunters uncovered a jaw dropping hoard of 181 silver coins in Yorkshire.
Historians identified the 181 penny coins from the period of the Anglo-Saxon monarch King Harold II and were minted in 1066.
The coins are now expect to sell for £500,000 when they go under the hammer at London auctioneers Noonans.
Paul Ibbotson, Harold Gaskell and William Hargreaves struck luck while they were detecting in a grass field near York earlier this year.
It is believed a wealthy owner stored them in a lead pot in the same location during the Battle of Fulford or Battle of Stamford Bridge.
But the stash remained hidden for centuries after the owner was killed.
Mr Ibbotson told the Daily Mail: “I got permission from the landowner to detect in a field, there was nothing significant about it.
“Most of the time I detect on my own but I had invited two chaps along with me.”
Just until the friends were going to leave the field to search in different location, on of their metal detector received a signal.
The 56-year-old added: “As soon as I found it I knew it was an Anglo-Saxon coin, I was shaking because I knew it was a prized find for a detectorist.
“Within a second or two I got another signal and then another and then another.
“I think I found about four or five by the time I called William and Harold.
“I said to them ‘I think I’ve found something big, I’ve found a hoard’.”
The shocked men then set to digging it up and dozens more King Harold coins from 1066 emerged out of the soil.
They spent the next three days searching the area to make sure all the coins had been found.
Half of the coins were found in good condition but some were half broken or damaged.
They all bear the king’s image on one side and the word ‘pax’ – the Latin for peace – on the other.
Mr Ibbotson said finding the historic treasure was “one of the most wonderful experiences I have ever felt”.
Noonans coin specialist Nigel Mills said the value of the hoard could hit over half million depending on the condition of the coins.
With King Harold coins already fetching around £6,000 – the total value of the lot could reach a whopping £500,000.
But Mr Mills added it could take up to two years for a definitive value to be set.
Mr Ibbotson will share the proceeds with the landowner and the friends who helped him dig the coins up.
The 1066 coins were handed in to the York coroner and are now being assessed by the British Museum.
It comes as a treasure hunter uncovered Britain’s oldest hoard of gold coins dating back 2,173 years.
Stephen Eldridge found the 12 Iron Age pieces – worth £30,000 – while searching farmland in Buckinghamshire.
