JCB driver wins court battle to keep cash from Roman coin hoard
A JCB driver who dug up more than 3,000 Roman coins is to get a windfall of up to £87,000 – despite colleagues claiming it was a team find.
Mark Copsey is set to earn an £87,000 payout for finding more than 3,000 Roman coins
Mark Copsey, 44, was levelling a recreation ground to build a hockey pitch when he spotted something in the soil.
It turned out that the 3,339 silver coins carrying depictions of an elephant and a hippopotamus had been buried about 270AD.
Mark immediately scooped them up and put them in a plastic carrier bag.
Now an inquest has ruled he is entitled to half their value, with the other half going to the landowner, South Somerset District Council.
Experts say the coins had been buried since about 270AD
Experts say the coins could be worth up to £175,000 – leaving Mark with a windfall of £87,000.
Lorry driver Colin Parnell, who was also working at the site, had argued that the discovery was a team find.
But coroner Tony Williams ruled at the hearing in Taunton, Somerset, that Mr Copsey alone was the finder.
He declared the find to be treasure under the Treasure Act.
An inquest ruled Mr Copsey was entitled to half of the coins £175,000 value
In his written evidence, Mark, from Clare, Suffolk, said: “I was stripping subsoil when I looked behind me and noticed a green colour in the soil. I stopped my machine and got out and discovered a broken pot with some sort of coins.”
I stopped my machine and got out and discovered a broken pot with some sort of coins
Speaking after the hearing he said finding the coins was “brilliant.”
He added: “When I’m driving it’s a health and safety rule to look behind me. That’s how I spotted them.
“The ’dozer took the top off the pot before I knew it was there.”
The discovery triggered an archaeological investigation that revealed a Roman settlement in Yeovil
The discovery triggered an archaeological investigation that revealed a small Roman settlement under the recreation ground in Yeovil, where cricketer Ian Botham played as a boy.
The hoard has been sent to the British Museum for analysis and will now be valued by an independent committee