TREASURE TROVE.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 165, 14 August 1886, Page 5

TREASURE TROVE.

An extraordinary discovery was lately made in Aberdeen, ' Scotland.- r A number of labourers were digging the foundation of a building in Ross's Court, Upper Kirkgate, an old thoroughfare, and when about three feet below the surface they discovered a bronze pot containing about 15,000 English silver coins, of the reign of Edward I. "It ia supposed that this form parts of the booty secured in one of the raids into England during the twelth century. The discovery having been brought under the notice of the Crown authorities, the Queen's Remembrancer instructed the Procurator Fiscal of the.City to claim the bronze urn and its contents on behalf of the Queen. The owner of the ground in which the find was made refused to give it up, but the authorities insisted upon it, and alai required the surrender to them of aU coins re moved by the parties who wenti to see and examine the treasure. The coins were cleared of the verdigris with which they were encrusted, and examined by local numismatist?, who found that they were of various dates, and belong to various .centuries. Fnglish coins of the reign of Edward I. and Edward 11. piedomin ate, but there 1 are aIBO Scottish coins of the reign of David and Alexander. In addition there are a considerable number of' French coins and ecclesiastical moneys,the latter stamped with mitres and pastoral staves. The coins vary in size from that of a threepenny piece to that of a shilling. Twenty-two weighed an ounce, and it is calculated the total number found was from 12,000 to 14,000 ; but a great many were removed before the finder< realised their value. Several of the coins were analysed by the Professor of Chemistry in the Aberdeen University, who, in hif report, said that the tolerably clean coin yielded in 100 parts 89' 88 of silver and 10'12of copper. The composition is, therefore, nearer to that of French coins than English, the latter containing 95 - sper cent, of silverof 7*5 per cent, of copper ; the former 90 percent of silver and 10 psr cent, of copper. ■ The Edward coins have an inscription round the outer adge of the obverse with a clear cut head wearing an open crown. On the reverse there is also an inscription, and the coin is marked with the strongly defined cross peculiar to the quarter money. In the angles formed by the cross trefoils are placed. Another coin has a crowned head in profile inclosed in a triangle on the obverse, and an inscription ; while on the reverse it is almost similar to that before described with the exception that stars are substituted for the trefoils, Most of the money is of this description. Numismatists cay that there are several exceedingly rare among the number.