Friday Retrospect: Durham Area Coelwulf Hoard, One Hoard, Two Hoards, Three?

Whatever happened here? It was a year ago:

Thursday, 30 May 2019

UK Knowledge Thieves Lose their Coin Haul

Haul seekers
 anonymous

A haul of coins of Alfred the Great of Wessex and Ceolwulf II of Mercia [...] has been recovered by police action ('Viking coin haul 'of historical significance'... BBC 30th May 2019):

Viking coins estimated to be worth at least £500,000 and "of major historical significance" have been recovered by police. The large number of coins and silver ingot were seized from properties in County Durham and Lancashire. Durham Police said "a number of people have been arrested" on suspicion of dealing in culturally tainted objects. It declined to confirm how many people were arrested or how they allegedly came to be in possession of the items. [...] The coins and ingot were handed over to the museum after being seized earlier this month.

Hmm. Basically, there are two ways you could find Viking coins, either they could drop out of the sky into your lap from a passing time-warping UFO, or you go metal detecting. I'm going to presume that this time the latter was the context of discovery. Crooked metal detectorists are in the news again (see next Sunday's posts here). The BBC narrativises the Durham Heist in a Kings and Battles framework:

King Alfred inflicted a defeat on the Vikings in AD 878, and experts believe the coins belong to an undeclared hoard consistent with the location of the Viking army at that time. [...] "This is the period in which Alfred the Great was fighting the Vikings, but which also led to the creation of a unified kingdom of England under Alfred and his successors." Det Insp Lee Gosling, of Durham Police, said: "It is not every day we get the chance to shape British history.

But it is gratifying to see how frequently metal detector finds are now being described in the British media with the pejorative term 'haul'. Good.

The 'success' of catching the thieves with the metal detectors was all over the media a year ago:

The Independent: Hoard of Viking coins seized during police raid could ‘change British history’ Chiara Giordano Friday 31 May 2019
Daily Mail: Police investigating illegal trade in historic treasures find hoard of Viking coins worth at least £500,000 that could rewrite Alfred the Great's role in British history By Yuan Ren, 30 May 2019 
Ancient Origins: 'Illegal Viking Coin Hoard Worth £500,000 Threatens (sic) To Rewrite English History', Ashley Cowie 2nd June 2019
The BBC: Viking coin haul 'of historical significance' 30 May 2019

Steven Auker ('The Man in the Hat') claims some "inside knowledge":

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Posted on YouTube by The Man With The Hat 25 Jul 2019  

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But then there is this:

Friday, 4 October 2019

"Operation Fantail" and The Eye/Leominster Hoard

With regard to the recent news story about the Leominster hoard, remember this from May this year? Chiara Giordano, 'Hoard of Viking coins seized during police raid could ‘change British history’.. ' Independent Friday 31 May 2019

A haul of Viking coins worth £500,000 uncovered during a police raid could “change British history”, according to a leading historian. Police seized the hoard of coins and a solid silver bar from properties in County Durham and Lancashire during an investigation. The items, believed to be of major historical significance, include coins from the reign of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, and his less well-known contemporary Ceolwulf II of Mercia. King Alfred inflicted a major defeat on the Vikings in AD 878 and experts from the British Museum believe the coins belong to an undeclared hoard consistent with the location of the Viking army at that time. The hoard is important because it fills a gap in the understanding of history at that time. [...] DI Lee Gosling, senior investigating officer for Operation Fantail at Durham Constabulary, said: “We are in the very early stages of what is going to be a very long and complex investigation. “We believe the material recovered comes from a hoard of immense historical significance relating to the Vikings and we are delighted to have been able to hand it over to the British Museum. [...] Police said the investigation was ongoing and that a “number of people” were arrested on suspicion of dealing in “culturally tainted objects”.

There is a similarly-worded story from the Sunderland Echo (Gary Welford, 'Coins from Viking hoard which could change history recovered by Durham police', Thursday,   30th May 2019) and Lancs Live (Dominic Moffitt 'Viking hoard found in police raids Lancashire and Durham could change British history', 2 Jun 2019). See also the Daily Mail (Yuan Ren, Police investigating illegal trade in historic treasures find hoard of Viking coins worth at least £500,000 that could rewrite Alfred the Great's role in British history 30 May 2019)

Is this the same hoard or a different one of the same period? It is an odd coincidence that the type of coins involved in two cases of unreported British hoards in the news are the same types. In the Leominster, case the reports tell us that finders Powell and Davies were arrested and questioned in August 2015 and then again in June 2016. Wells was arrested on September 10, 2015 (and it was reportedly in his house that some of the coins were found), while the dealer Wicks was arrested in November 2015 (it is not clear if he had some of the hoard material in his stock, it's not really the line of material he normally carries). But Powell comes from Newport, Wales, and Davies from of Pontypridd, Wales. Wells is from Rumney, Cardiff, and Wicks is from Hailsham, East Sussex. So the seizure that is reported cannot have been from any of them. So, if these arrests concern the same case, perhaps the coins were seized from the premises of a dealer (based in in County Durham and Lancashire) handling them. Durham Police have 'refused to give further detail on the arrests'. A local source suggests, though on what basis is unclear:

The salvaged treasure trove of ancient Viking coins is worth more than $600,000 and was saved from being sold in the black market.[...] The coins were recovered from private houses in County Durham and Lancashire this month, where the coins were being kept while being offered for sale in the black market.

So is this ONE find, but the contents scattered between 2015 ad 2019, or do we have TWO separate finds, one has been brought to court and the other still being "investigated"? Don't the public have a right to know? To which Coroner were the freshly-recovered "Operation Fantail" coins reported and when?

And these two should not be confused with another one with the same sort of character and date found in Oxfordshire at the end of 2015

A mixed hoard of Viking jewelry and Anglo-Saxon coins has been unearthed in a farmer’s field near Watlington, Oxfordshire. It was discovered in October by metal detectorist and retired advertising executive James Mather. He was about to close up shop for the day when he found a cigar-shaped object that looked a lot like the Viking silver ingots he remembered seeing at the British Museum. He dug nine inches down and saw a group of coins. Instead of continuing to root around, he wisely called the local finds officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) who told him to rebury the objects until they could be formally excavated.

And they were. But there is no "Watlington Hoard" in the PAS database nevertheless. 

Why on earth can there simply not be any transparency and honest communication with the British public about what is happening to the archaeological heritage?