The Grouville Treasure is a remarkable hoard consisting of approximately 70,000 late Iron Age and Roman coins. It was discovered by metal detectorists Reg Mead and Richard Miles in June 2012 in a field located in the parish of Grouville on the east side of Jersey in the Channel Islands. This hoard is the largest ever found on Jersey and is also noteworthy as the first major archaeological discovery made by metal detectors on the island.
The Grouville Treasure is believed to date back to around 50-60 B.C. and is thought to have belonged to the Curiosolitae tribe, who were possibly fleeing from Julius Caesar's advancing armies.
Meade and Miles had been searching for metals in the area since the early 1980s, initially prompted by hearing about a farmer who had found some silver coins in a clay pot a few years prior while uprooting a tree from a hedge. However, due to the lack of precise information about the find's location and limited access to the field (only a few hours annually), it took them approximately 30 years to locate the treasure.
In early 2012, Mead and Miles discovered 60 silver coins from the Iron Age, along with a single gold coin, possibly minted by the Curiosolitae tribe in Saint-Malo, France. Their subsequent efforts led to the discovery of a massive mass of Iron Age and Roman coins embedded in clay. They reported their find to Jersey Heritage, and archaeologists from Société Jersiaise and Jersey Heritage, along with Celtic coin expert Philip de Jersey, worked together to remove the clay mass containing the coins. This mass measured 140 x 80 x 20 cm and weighed around 750 kg.
The conservation and research efforts on the Grouville Treasure have been ongoing, with individual items being carefully extracted from the clay mass. In addition to the vast number of Celtic and Roman silver coins, the hoard contains gold torcs, silver bracelets, gold leaf, fine silver wire, and several glass beads.
The legal situation regarding the coins is somewhat unclear because the Treasure Act, which governs such discoveries in the United Kingdom, may not apply in Jersey. There is no established legal framework in Jersey for dealing with treasure finds. The finders, landowner, and authorities have entered into an agreement to share the proceeds of the treasure, and there has been hope that the coins will eventually be displayed at the Jersey Museum or Jersey Archives.
Philip de Jersey, an expert on Celtic coins, has suggested that the coins could be valued between £100 and £200 each, potentially making the entire hoard worth between £7 million and £14 million.