Prison for attempting to sell rare Anglo-Saxon coins in lieu of reward

They attempted to sell 44 unique coins worth more than CZK 20 million and tricked police officers in disguise. Craig Best from County Durham and Roger Pilling from Lancashire were found guilty of conspiracy to sell criminal property and possession of criminal property. Each received 5 years and 2 months behind bars.

The coins, dating from 874 to 879 AD, were originally part of a multi-million pound Viking depot called the 'Herefordshire Hoard', which contained around 300 very rare coins minted in Wessex and Mercia. The hoard was discovered by detectorists George Powell and Layton Davies in 2015. Had the depot been handed over to the Crown, it would certainly have been declared a treasure and the proceeds from the sale of the coins to a museum would have represented a vast fortune for both the finders and the landowner. Instead, they tried to sell off the coins on the black market, leading to their arrest and subsequent conviction.

Prosecutor Matthew Donkin said that Best and Pilling "somehow" acquired some of the coins and attempted to sell them on the black marketm market outside the UK, demanding payment in cash to ensure that there was no record of their existence. When the men were arrested, 44 coins were found in their possession. However, according to the indictment, Pilling photographed a further two coins worth more than £100,000 for collectors. Their whereabouts have not yet been established. Pilling claimed the fragile coins broke when he fell and stepped on them, so he later threw them in the bin.

Judge James Adkin did not believe the story about the damage to the two missing coins, saying they had been "stowed away" somewhere. One of the photographed coins is worth more than two million crowns, and was certainly the most valuable in Pilling's collection, and it would have been a "strange coincidence if that particular coin had been destroyed," the judge said. He said both men had told "many lies" during the investigation. He described their efforts to cover their tracks as "amateurish".

The judge is sure Pilling knows the significance of the coins and knew they could not have been sold to a legitimate British buyer because he would have quickly realised their importance and reported the coins. Pilling therefore contacted Best, who contacted his American contacts for the sale. When he attempted to sell them to an American expert, he promptly informed the historians at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

The police were subsequently informed and immediately began following Best. While attempting to sell the coins at the County Hotel in Durham in May 2019, he was arrested by police officers pretending to be a prospective buyer. Had Pilling and Best succeeded, the coins "would likely have been lost to the nation forever," the judge stated.

Experts agree that the coins contribute to an understanding of the political history of 9th-century England. The missing pieces from the Viking hoard represent an irreplaceable loss of cultural and historical value.

Roman Němec

Sources: bbc.com, theguardian.com

A coin minted by King Alfred the Great of Wessex (871-99) and his contemporary Ceolwulf II of Mercia (874-9) - part of a hoard discovered in Herefordshire.

Some of the 44 rare coins seized

Craig Best and Roger Pilling