$15m Roman silver hoard uncovered in Jersey, wealth preserved for 2,000 years [arabianmoney]
July 1, 2012 Leave a comment
A record hoard of silver worth around $15 million has been discovered by two amateur metal detectors in Jersey after a 30 year search, reported The Daily Mail. This is the largest hoard of Celtic coins ever found and dates from the time of Julius Caesar.
Some 40,000 silver coins were uncovered and required a crane to lift them out of a pit where they had laid buried in clay for 2,000 years. Archaeologists reckon the coins were hidden by Celts fleeing Julius Caesar as he invaded nothern France.
Ancient safe haven
Jersey is one of the Channel Islands off the coast of northern France that are now part of the United Kingdom and a popular tax haven for British residents in the Gulf States. It’s not the first time such treasure has been found on Jersey and the exact location of the latest find is being kept secret for obvious reasons.
If anybody wanted a more concrete demonstration of silver as a preserver of wealth they should look no further than this discovery. Two millennia after the original depositors have left this earth their bounty has been paid up.
However, as ArabianMoney has noted about similar past discoveries of ancient hoards of precious metals, there is an obvious irony and warning about the concealment of gold and silver in safe places: if you keep this too secret your money could be lost for all time.
