Iron age gold coins dug up in Suffolk sell for £33,000
They were discovered in two parcels near Bury St Edmunds in 2024
A hoard of Iron Age gold coins that were dug up by a metal detectorist in a field in Suffolk have sold at auction for a combined total of £33,200.
The find is the largest known set of gold coins from the reign of King Dubnovellaunos, who ruled the Trinovantes between 25BC and 10AD.
They were discovered in two parcels by 46-year-old Tom Licence near Bury St Edmunds in 2024.
The detectorist, who is a professor of medieval history and literature at the University of East Anglia, found 16 full gold Iron Age staters and one quarter-stater.
He returned to the site a few months later and found one more stater.
Prof Licence and the landowner chose to keep a single stater each and the remaining 16 coins were individually offered for sale at Noonans Mayfair in London.
The coins fetched a combined hammer price of £33,200 on Wednesday, exceeding their pre-auction estimate of £25,000.
Prof Licence said afterwards: "It was an honour to see expert collectors taking these coins into their care.
"So much of the research on ancient coins is done by the collecting community, all around the world.
"Without their contribution, we would know very little.
"With the share which the landowner is generously granting me, I will be supporting archaeological work in Suffolk."
Two coins that sold for a combined hammer price of £8,000 were bought by the same collector in the US while a collector in Switzerland bought another for a hammer price of £3,400.
Prof Licence began metal-detecting as a young boy but said he took a more serious interest in the hobby in 1994 as a teenager.
He said he chose to go metal detecting in the field near Bury St Edmunds as his niece was keen to go metal detecting.
He said his family has roots in the Bury St Edmunds area and he likes to "imagine that the coins were buried by one of my ancestors".