By Martin Neville
A TREASURE hunter picked up a valuable find on his boot that his metal detector missed during a dig.
Brian Hawkes, a member of the IW Metal Detecting Club, discovered a silver Roman coin caked in mud on the tip of his boot. He had been walking through a muddy field with his metal detector on a club dig when he made his discovery.
"The rain was pouring down and when you are walking across a ploughed field you do pick up a lot of mud on your boot," said Mr Hawkes, 60, of Pineview Drive, Carisbrooke.
"Every few paces I was stopping and shaking the earth from my foot and I noticed the coin on my toe. I must have missed it with the metal detector and it somehow found its way on to my boot.
"Sometimes you see them on top of the soil but this is the first time the find has found me."
Minted in Rome, the coin dates back to 108 AD and depicts Emperor Trajan on one side and the goddess Venus on the other.
Mr Hawkes, a founder member of the club, said the coin was in excellent condition.
- Post to:
del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
Nowpublic
Reddit
« Previous | Home | Next »