Missing Viking Treasure Coin Found in London

A somewhat misleading clickbait headline: 'Missing Viking treasure coin unearthed in London' ( BBC 22.05.2025) A coin, believed to belong to the undeclared Leominster Hoard (dug up by detectorists George Powell and Layton Davies), has been found for sale "in Croydon, London". Of the c. 300 coins dug up, with other metal objects, in a Herefordshire field in 2015, more than 230 coins are still missing and "police investigations are ongoing". In 2019, Powell and Davies, from Pontypridd, were convicted of stealing the hoard of gold jewels and silver coins and hiding the find, only 72 of the coins 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.

The coins that were in the hoard are of types that are generally quite expensive, so one would expect this to have been in the hands of a specialist dealer. As far as I know, there are none such in Croydon, though quite a few generalised dealers involved in house clearance etc. - no names leap out (neither can one rule out a pawn shop). So, it will be interesting to know how the coin reached teh seller, and who and how it was spotted.

And indeed, whether a random coin of the 'right type' floating around on the market can indeed be tied with 100% certainty to a specific dug up context.