TREASURE TROVE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19255, 20 August 1924, Page 10

TREASURE TROVE.

INQUEST ON OLD COINS. FIVE HUNDRED YEARS OLD. DISCOVERY IN YORKSHIRE. An interesting story of treasure trove was told recently at Knarcaborough, Yorkshire, whore an inquest was held by Mr J. R. Wood, the York coroner, with regard to the finding of some 300 silver pennies, dating from the 13th and 34th centuries, moat of them coined in the reigns of Edward I, and probably the two Edwards following, and a few of Alexander 111 of Scotland. JTheso wore found during alterations to George House, Scotton, by Mr M. M. Bartholomew, the owner, and his assistant. Mr Josiah Coe said that he was helping Mr Bartholomew with his alterations and had taken up the stone flags of the kitchen. When he was levelling the floor his spade caught something which turned out to be an earthenware pot, and which was broken. It was embedded in the soil, and coins were found inside.

Mr Bartholomew said he had lived in the house 17 years, and since buying it a month ago ho had been making alterations. The flags in the kitchen were intact, and (he ground apparently had not been disturbed for years. The pot was found in soft sand Sin beneath the surface, and the coins were cemented together with the aa.na and damp which had got in. The money had apparently been hidden at some time. HOUSE FORMERLY AN INN. In answer to a juryman the witness added that the house at one time was Ha inn, the George the Fourth, from which it got its present name. He believed a relation of his wife was the last landlady, and tile license lapsed 35 or 40 years ago. There had been no cellar, and he discounted the suggestion that the money might have been put away in the pot by a former landlady and forgotten. In his opinion the coins were put there before the house was built, for there was another foundation and other evidence of a previous structure.

The Coroner said the duty of the jury was very simple. It was clear from the evidence that the money was treasure trove, and the property of the King. The jury returned a veidict accordingly, and recorded the finders as being the two witnesses. Major Gill, referring to the possible destination of the coins, said that the last instruction on the matter was a circular letter from the Treasury of 1886. In it tho Treasury officials intimated that, with a view to encouraging the notification to tho authorities of such finds in England, finders who surrendered their discoveries would have such of the articles as were not required for national institutions returned, together with the antiquarian value of such as might bo retained, less 20 per cent. _ That was what would probably happen in this case. '. . The jury expressed their appreciation or tire way Air Bartholomew had acted in the matter EXAMINATION OF TUB RELICS. Several of the coins have been, submitted to Mr Henry Crowther, curator of the Leeds City Museum, who identified one as a silver penny of Alexander IXI of Scotland (ISM - X 285), and several as having been struck in (he reigns of Die first three Edwards of England. A collect! ii r ; f York mintages is being made at the n ieum, and Mr Crowther is especially 'in. o.sud :n learning whether any of those found Mr Bartholomew were struck at York.

After finding the jar Mr Bartholomew noticed that the upper portion had been cut off, possibly by a spade, 'and he carefully sifted the rough lime and sand that h'id been removed from beneath the stone flags of his kitchen. This search revealed several more coins of the same period. Those in tho jar had been carefully packed, a pillar of pennies being formed in tho middle, with the others wedged in tightly round the pillar on their edges. They were almost sealed together with a greyish kind of clay. Originally, Mr Bartholomew thinks, they would be buried two or three feet below the surface.

The find will stimulate interest in the historical associations of the old villages of Scotton. Within a few yards of Mr Bartholomew’s house is the site of what may prove to have been a Roman camp, and near by are the old homes of Guy Fawkes and of one of the Northumberland Percys.