Hoard of ancient Roman coins worth 200 thousand pounds found in UK

LONDON: An amateur historian has discovered a trove of 2,000-year-old Roman silver coins worth 200,000 pounds with the help of a metal detector in a farmer's field in the UK.

Mike Smale, fisherman and amateur historian was hunting for treasure with friends when he found 600 rare Denarii in a field in Birdport.

Some of the coins are extremely rare as they were minted in Roman general Mark Anthony's short-lived reign when he was allied with Egypt's Cleopatra, and can be worth up to 900 pounds each.

"I was elated and shaking because this is a once in a lifetime find," Smale said.

"The archaeologists excavating it could not believe what they were seeing because these coins are so rare," he added.

It is a great find, my biggest one, but I won't be giving metal detecting up, it is great fun and I am sticking with it, Smale was quoted as saying by 'The Metro'.

"Coin finds such as this are fascinating, and are incredibly important in shedding light on the history of Roman Britain," said Dominic Chorney, coin expert of A H Baldwin and Sons in the UK.

"Republican coins and those of Antony were issued before the Roman Invasion of Britain in AD 43, and would have drifted over in the pockets of Roman soldiers and citizens alike,"

said Chorney.