- Jersey Heritage’s work to catalogue ancient coin hoard is ‘pioneering’
- Visiting researcher from the British Museum praises the work, saying it is ‘exactly how to record a find’
- Experts have now removed 20,000 coins
- A team of staff and volunteers have drastically increased the project’s progress in recent months
JERSEY is pioneering modern techniques as it works to uncover secrets of the Island’s ancient Iron Age coin hoard, according to a researcher from the British Museum.
Dr Eleanor Ghey visited the hoard for the first time recently and praised the work being carried out by Jersey Heritage under the leadership of Museum conservator Neil Mahrer.
She said the team was showing ‘exactly how to record a find’ and that the use of modern technology, such as a laser that is used to measure each coin’s exact position, was providing detailed information that could later yield essential data.
Ever since experts began unpicking the coin hoard, found by metal detectorists Reg Mead and Richard Miles in a Grouville field in 2012, the cache has been revealing its secrets.
Most recently a 2,050-year-old millipede was spotted stuck to one of the coins, among which gold torques and other jewellery has also been found.
At the moment Dr Ghey is working as a researcher on a joint project with the British Museum and Leicester University, investigating Roman and Iron Age coin hoards in England and Wales.
But previously she helped to catalogue the Beau Street Hoard – the fifth largest coin hoard ever found in Britain, which was discovered beneath a hotel in Bath.
‘This is a really fantastic example of exactly how to excavate and record a find,’ she said.
‘Neil has the opportunity to make the most of recording the coins in their exact positions.
‘Even if we don’t know the relevance of that now, it means we will have the information for the future.
‘It’s very interesting to see how the team is approaching the hoard using modern technology and different resources.
Dr Ghey explained that her work with the British Museum and Leicester University would look at why such deposits were made.
Jersey’s Iron Age coin hoard is now being catalogued by experts at Jersey Museum and a dedicated team of volunteers who are measuring each coin’s position, recording the information and also cleaning each item.
Mr Mahrer explained that shortly after beginning the project it became obvious the rate of progress was too slow.
Since then they have taken on more help, including members of the Société Jersiaise and Islanders enrolled on the States Back to Work Scheme.
‘We passed the 20,000 coin mark and are very pleased with the progress we’re making,’ he added.
‘We’ve had a team of volunteers working with us in the last month which has made a huge difference to our rate of work.
‘We’ve got about ten people on the team at the moment and will be expanding that shortly.’
- First each coins position is measured with a laser and the details are recorded.
- The coin is removed and treated with formic acid, which removes the greenish copper build up.
- Coins are then washed in six water baths.
- Extra cleaning is done by hand to reveal the coins design, but the process is not designed to polish them to a shiny finish.
- They are then photographed and identified for type or the tribe they represent. That information is stored on a computer database.
- Each coin is given a unique identity number and then stored.
