Adopt a coin St Ives 'muddy hoard' fundraiser launched

The exhibition opened on Heritage Open Saturday and attracted hundreds of visitors

A museum curator said she has been "overwhelmed" by the level of public interest shown in an exhibition of more than 9,000 Roman coins.

Nicknamed the "muddy hoard" by experts, it was found by a metal detectorist near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.

Claire Hardy, director of the Norris Museum, St Ives, said 600 visitors turned up on the display's opening day.

The museum has launched a £30,000 "adopt a coin" fundraiser campaign to display the hoard permanently.

The find, believed to be largest found in Cambridgeshire, was nicknamed "the muddy hoard" by experts due to its condition when it was found

The six-month exhibition opened as part of Heritage Open Days and received 600 visitors, compared to 120 last year.

"We've been overwhelmed by visitors' response and it's also amazing walking around in St Ives and over-hearing people talk about it, they are proud of their the town," said Ms Hardy.

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Finder John Hutchison was invited to see a selection of the most significant coins in the spring, after his daughter got in touch saying "he'd love to see it".

"We invited his family, children and grandchildren to the official opening too - and he was amazed, as the the last time he saw them all, they were very, very muddy and congealed," she said.

Metal detectorist John Hutchison was delighted to be reunited with his 2018 find, now cleaned up and conserved

Mr Hutchison discovered the hoard in a field in 2018 and immediately informed Cambridgeshire's finds liaison officer Helen Fowler.

She spent two days excavating it, alongside the British Museum's Dr Andrew Brown.

Metal detecting and the law

• No search can begin until permission has been given by the landowner

• All finds belong to the landowner

• Any find in England, Wales and Northern Ireland that is more than 300 years old, made of gold or silver, or found with gold or silver artefacts, could be treasure under the 1996 Treasure Act

• These must be reported to the appropriate county finds liaison officer

Source: Portable Antiquities Scheme

The base metal coins were probably hidden at a time of turmoil in the wake of the 3rd Century breakaway empire.

Ms Hardy said they range "across the reign of 14 Emperors and 1 Empress and include a previously unrecorded coin - a denarius of Emperor Tetricus I".

The hoard includes this copper alloy coin of Laelian, part of a brief, breakaway empire in western Europe

"One of our active volunteers Rodney is a coin expert and he spends a whole day here every week doing research on the coins," added Ms Hardy.

The museum, which marks its 90th anniversary this year, acquired the hoard with grants from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund,the Art Fund Acquisitions Fund "and "topped up very generously by the Friends of the Norris Museum".

It has launched a £30,000 "adopt a coin fundraising campaign", which will also "engage with the public to tell its story and that of the wider Huntingdonshire area", said Ms Hardy.