Bend down and tremblingly pick it up. It was the 63-year-old man’s final work when he discovered a 350-pound ancient vase containing 52,000 Roman coins in a field dating from the 3rd century AD.
For 1,800 years the story of the ‘lost British emperor’ who defied ancient Rome has been merely a footnote in history books. Carausius’s audacious seizure of power and seven-year reign over Britain and much of Gaul have largely been forgotten. But thanks to the astonishing discovery of 52,000 Roman coins, new light is being shed on one of the most turbulent periods of our island story. Hands covered in mud, Dave Crisp crouches down (left) in the field where he made the find. And, right, he examines one of the 52,500 coins, dating to the 3rd century AD, he found Slowly but surely the pot of coins emerges from the field near Frome, in Somerset Hundreds of the coins – buried in a gigantic clay jar and weighing as much as two men – bear the image of Carausius. The discovery was made by hospital chef Dave Crisp using a metal detector. The 63-year-old unearthed 21 of the coins on a farm near Frome in Somerset before realising the find was so significant expert help was neede...