It was probably the find of his life. The amateur treasure hunter, a father from the Rhineland, had not been expecting anything special that day when his metal detector suddenly beeped. He uncovered a Roman silver coin, then more. By the time he had reached 15 and the detector was still sounding, he realised: "This was something much bigger."
What archaeologists subsequently recovered exceeded all expectations: 934 Roman silver denarii with a total weight of 3,1 kilograms. The Rhineland Regional Authority (LVR) describes the discovery as the largest known hoard of coins from the reign of Emperor Hadrian on the territory of present-day Germany. Worldwide, there are thought to be only four larger Roman hoards from this period.
