TWO VIKING COINS UNCOVERED IN IRELAND

Treasure hunters can often spend hours searching to find nothing at all, but when a valuable find does come along it can be incredibly exciting.

That's exactly what happened to Brian Morton who, after ten years of metal detecting, stumbled across two rare Viking coins in County Down.

Experts believe the coins, which are the first of their kind to be found in Northern Ireland, may have been taken during a Viking raid on a monastery at Maghera.

They have now been sent for independent valuation at the British Museum.

A treasure inquest in Belfast heard the discovery of the Hiberno-Manx silver coins was a first for Northern Ireland, with less than a handful found anywhere in Ireland during the past four decades.

The coins were mainly circulated in the Isle of Man during the eleventh century and are 93 per cent silver. They were found under about 4 inches (10cm) of mud about 5 feet (1.5m) apart.

Some suggest they may have been dropped during a raid on a nearby monastery.

The Viking raids often involved attacking monasteries and churches because they were treasure troves for the raiders.

To read the complete article, see:
How did they get there? Two rare Viking coins are found in Northern Ireland for the first time (www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3971912/How-did-Two-rare-Viking-coins-Northern-Ireland-time.html)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web