The Hoxne Hoard ($2.8 million)

In November 1992, a farmer living near the village of Hoxne in Suffolk, England, lost a hammer in one of his fields, so he asked Eric Lawes to use his metal detector to search for it.

While looking for the hammer, Lawes happened upon something else of interest -- 24 bronze coins, 565 gold coins, 14,191 silver coins, plus hundreds of gold and silver spoons, jewelry, and statues, all dating back to the Roman Empire.



As required by British law, the so-called "Hoxne Hoard" was reported to the local authorities, who declared it a "Treasure Trove," meaning it was now legally the property of Britain.

However, the government is required to pay fair market value for a treasure trove, meaning the farmer and Lawes split a cool £1.75 million (about $2.8 million).

The Hoxne Hoard is now on permanent display at the British Museum, drawing thousands of people every year.

The silver objects are all quite small: the bulk of these are around 100 spoons and ladles. This extensive collection of silverware would almost certainly have also included larger table vessels, like those in the Mildenhall treasure, but we do not know what happened to them. A silver handle in the form of a tigress, apparently deliberately detached from a tall vase, indicates the existence of at least one such larger vessel for the table. The unusual selection of jewellery comprises a body-chain, a small group of necklaces, three finger-rings and 19 bracelets.

The Hoxne Hoard on Display

The latest of the coin issues in the hoard establishes that its burial took place some time after AD 407/8. This was the period when Roman rule was breaking down in Britain, and the Hoxne hoard might be related to these events.

The careful burial of this treasure probably means that the owner intended to come back and recover it later, but for whatever reason was unable to do so.