COIN HOARD

Thirty silver coins of Mary I, Elizabeth I and James I, latest issue 1604, associated with three non-joining fragments from a brown-glazed red-earthenware bowl.

Mary I alone (1553-1554)
Groat (pomegranate), 1

Elizabeth I (1558-1603)
Shilling (martlet), 1
Sixpence, (pheon: 1562; coronet: 1567; 1568, 4; 1569; castle: 1571, 2; eglantine: 1574; 1575, 2; long cross: 1580, 2; 1581; hand: 1590; tun 1593; 1594; uncertain: 1594; woolpack: 1595; key: uncertain date), 21
Threepence, (uncertain, 1566; coronet, 1568), 2
Halfgroat (A), 1

James I (1603-16??)
Sixpence, (thistle: 1603; 1604; lis: 1604, 2), 4

Discussion: In c. 1934 27 silver 16th-17th Century were discovered in Ashover, but this was in the roof of a thatched cottage, so seems unlikely to the same deposit.

Conclusion:

As official English coins all of these will be of the silver sterling standard, 92.5% fine metal. They represent the range of currency in use in the early 17th century, and - being mostly sixpences - are clearly a selected body of material. The coins, therefore, appear to qualify as a single deposit at time of burial, therefore these they would fulfil the criteria of Treasure under the terms of the Treasure Act (1996) by being silver coins of an antiquity greater than 300 years and are of one find of more than two pieces. The pottery sherds are associated with the coins and as such also qualify as Treasure.