This hammered silver shilling of Edward VI was discovered by Michael H in the Surrey Hills, just a few paces from where Ashley had unearthed an identical coin the previous summer. In a strange twist of fate, both coins were found beside a fork — and in Michael’s case, it was nearly missed altogether. Thinking the fork was the only target, he gave the hole one last sweep with his detector and, moments later, revealed this beautiful Tudor shilling.
Struck between 1550 and 1553, during the brief and relatively short reign of Henry VIII’s young son, Edward VI shillings are very uncommon finds. Their scarcity is due in part to the limited years of Edward’s rule, which resulted in fewer coins being produced and even fewer surviving in the ground today. These shillings belong to the third period of Edward’s coinage and reflect England’s efforts to restore the purity of silver after the debasement of earlier reigns.
Following assessment by the Finds Liaison Officer for Surrey, this shilling has now been officially declared Treasure under the 1996 Treasure Act. Because the two coins were found so close together, they are considered part of a single associated deposit. This marks an exciting milestone for The Bearded Bleepers, our first ever officially declared treasure.
To find two matching hammered shillings so close together is an extraordinary coincidence and invites all sorts of possibilities about how they ended up in the Surrey Hills. Perhaps the owner was a weary traveller who left the nearby road to rest beneath the stars, only to lose the coins while settling down for the night. Maybe there had been a brief tussle with one of Surrey’s notorious highwaymen, who once prowled the lanes and wooded tracks of the county. Or it could have been something as simple as a poorly repaired pocket leaking precious silver as its owner made their way across the hill. Whatever the cause, the Surrey landscape has quietly safeguarded this little mystery for nearly five centuries and now offers it back for us to ponder.
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