TREASURE has been found in a farmer’s field, a coroner’s court heard today (Tuesday, December 8).

The initial find of seven Tudor coins – worth about £200 each - was made by David Crabtree from Consett, County Durham, while out prospecting with his metal detecting club, the North East Searchers on Sunday, April 26 earlier this year.

Assistant Coroner Dr Leslie Hamilton heard that the find was added to after Mr Crabtree returned at a later date and found two further coins from the same period.

Permission by the landowner to scour his fields in Coxhoe, County Durham, was granted on both occasions.

After referring all nine coins to the Finds Liaison Officer at Durham County Council, Mr Crabtree sent the 500 year-old currency for authentication to the British Museum in London.

The keen amateur historian was delighted to hear that the museum had classified the nine silver coins as treasure after experts decided they were more than 300 years old and contained more than 10 per cent silver. The find was also classified as a ‘hoard’ as archaeologists believed they had been deliberately hidden.

The remarkably well-preserved coins are dated 1529 and are a mixture of groats (fourpence), half groats (twopence) and pennies.

The hammered coins were made by placing a blank piece of metal between two plates or ‘dies’, one of which was embossed with the royal image, and hammered from one side.

They date from the reign of Henry VIII, featuring an image of the king on one side and the royal coat of arms on the other.

Mr Crabtree said: “We were out one Sunday with the club and myself, Ken Dinsdale and Adam Thompson came across these coins. There were around 20 people out with their metal detectors that day.”

Mr Crabtree said that the find follows a similar discovery by the club a few weeks earlier at a location in North Yorkshire.

Durham University Museum of Archaeology are thought to be interested in buying them from him, although a spokesman from the university’s Library and Heritage Collections department was unable to comment until the purchase has been successful.

A delighted Mr Crabtree added: “It’s really unusual to find a group of coins like this together. We tend to find single coins rather than a hoard like this. Who knows, it could have been a lost purse or someone might have hidden them. The mind boggles.”