Lymington's St Barbe Museum is displaying a hoard of Celtic coins found in 2018

Roman Collector · October 17, 2022

A HOARD of Celtic coins found buried in the New Forest by three metal detectorists is now on display at Lymington's St Barbe Museum.

The unique, 2,000-year-old cache of 269 coins, which includes some never before been seen by historians, was secured by the museum following a fundraising appeal backed by TV historian Dan Snow.

Having been declared a treasure trove by the British Museum – meaning it was buried deliberately – the find effectively belonged to the people who found it in 2018, and the landowner.

St Barbe launched a public campaign – dubbed the Celtic Countdown – to raise a total of £37,500 to buy, display and interpret the coins, which bear charming and detailed designs relating to myths.

"The coins look like jewellery, with their beautiful designs," said a museum spokesperson. "They vary in size from smaller than the rubber on the end of a pencil to roughly the size of a 1p piece.

"This is more incredible if you consider they are Iron Age, before magnifying glasses were invented!"

St Barbe trustee Professor Tony King said the coins display mythical scenes, one a horse and sun depicting the belief that the horse carries the sun under the sea at sunset and emerges at sunrise.

The hoard is believed to have been buried as part of a ritual activity, along with other items of this period. Their exact location has not – and will not – be divulged for fear of others "trying their luck" on the private land.

DCCR · October 17, 2022

This is an important hoard (technically two hoards) and it's nice to see that the museum have made a good job of displaying it. There's a bit more information about it here: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/889614

John Conduitt · October 17, 2022

I will have to visit, given I don't live far away.

Here's a Durotriges stater from a hoard...

Cranbourne Chase Stater, 50-10BC
Durotriges tribe, Dorset. Silver, 19mm, 4.78g. Crude head of Apollo with wreath, cloak and crescents. Disjointed horse left with rectangular head, body of crescents, four vertical legs, three lines for tail; pellet below; twelve pellets above; wheel of biga behind (ABC 2157; VA 1235-1; M 317; S 366). From the Winterborne Stickland (Dorset) Hoard 2013 of 75 staters, Portable Antiquities Scheme: WILT-DF1BB7 (this coin is image 29).

...and a coin of Tincomarus, the last ruler in the New Forest hoard.

Tincomarus Unit, 25BC-10
Atrebates tribe. Silver, 13mm, 1.30g. Diademed head left; TINCOMARVS around, beaded border. Curvy horse left, beaded mane, lyre and two rings above (S 90). Found Fareham, Hampshire.