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Missing Viking treasure coin unearthed in London

Nicola Goodwin
BBC Midlands Investigations team
British Museum The photo shows both sides of a small coin, made of silver. It has the profile image of a king on one side and a cross on the other. Both sides include lettering. British Museum
The hoard included more than 300 silver coins but most remain missing

A coin missing from a stolen Viking hoard has been discovered for sale in Croydon, London.

George Powell and Layton Davies, from Wales, dug up more than 300 silver coins and gold jewellery in a Herefordshire field in 2015.

If the metal detectorists had declared the hoard, they could have been millionaires, but instead they sold it for profit and were sent to prison.

Ten years since the treasure was discovered, more than 230 coins are still missing and police investigations are ongoing.

A plastic grey tray containing 30 old silver coins and some fragments of coins. The coins are labelled with small discs of paper. They are small coins, made of silver and struck with a dais.
The coins changed what we know about the history of England, according to experts

In 2019, Powell and Davies, from Pontypridd, were convicted of stealing the hoard of gold jewels and silver coins and hiding the find.

As he sent them to jail, Judge Nicholas Cartright told the jury at Worcester Crown Court that they had "stolen from the nation".

Photos taken by the pair showed more than 300 coins in a freshly dug hole but only 72 of them have been found.

Police believe they are in the hands of organised crime gangs across the world and now one has been found on sale in London.

"We have been notified by colleagues at the Metropolitan Police that a coin, believed to be part of the Herefordshire Hoard, has surfaced for sale in Croydon," said Det Insp Ben Pearson, from West Mercia Police.

"Enquiries are ongoing to establish how this coin came to be in London.

"Some of the hoard remains uned for and we remain open-minded as to its whereabouts.

"We will continue to investigate any items that come to light and may be linked."

British Museum Undated handout photo issued by the British Museum of a gold ring with a black-coloured pattern on it from the ninth century that was part of a £3m Viking hoard.British Museum
The hoard included this gold ring, thought to have been worn by a ruler or king

Experts believed the coins were Anglo-Saxon and to have been hidden by Vikings.

The hoard also included a Ninth Century gold ring, a crystal rock pendant, a dragon's head bracelet and an ingot.

METAPHOR Architect's artist's impression of the new collections room at Hereford Museum. The image shows families looking at displays. METAPHOR
The hoard is set to go on display at Hereford's museum after a revamp

The hoard will soon take pride of place in the Hereford Museum and Art Gallery which is having a £22m restoration.

After £776,250 was raised to bring them back to the county, they are set to go on public display in a purpose-built exhibition space.

"We would love to have the missing pieces of this extraordinary hoard returned to their rightful place in Herefordshire," said Damian Etheraads, from Hereford Museum.

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