What a Dallinghoo-ha! £300,000 gold coin find sparks bitter rift between metal detecting 'friends'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 07:41 EST, 14 April 2011

When friends Michael Darke and Keith Lewis unearthed a hoard of Iron Age gold coins, it should have been one of the greatest moments of their lives.

But the pair are no longer on speaking terms following a dispute over how the £300,000 spoils of the so-called Dallinghoo Gold should be shared.

The 840 pieces, which date back to the first century BC, are one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of their kind for 150 years.

Fury: Michael Darke, left, has vowed to appeal the Treasury Valuation Committee's decision after Keith Lewis, right, was awarded £75,000

A British Museum valuation committee has now followed convention by ruling that half should go to the landowner, farmer Cliff Green, 69.

But metal-detecting enthusiast Mr Darke, 62, who found the treasure, is furious that he has been awarded £75,803,  while Mr Lewis, 56, who was drafted in to help later, will receive £74,196.

Undisclosed costs in the ongoing legal battle they are locked in means the final figures will be significantly less.

Mr Darke describes the episode as a ‘nightmare’ and says he wishes he had never come across the first coin – but has vowed to fight the ruling.

Mr Lewis admits the bust-up has left a ‘nasty taste’ but insists he got what he deserves as he located most of the hoard.

‘As far as I’m concerned it is a fair deal, end of story,’ he added.

The saga began in March 2008 when lorry driver Mr Darke found a gold coin as he searched a 30-acre field at Dallinghoo, near Woodbridge, Suffolk.

He returned a few days later to find eight more coins, which he identified on the internet as gold Celtic staters.

They are believed to have been made in Norfolk and Suffolk between 40 BC and 15 BC by the Iceni tribe.

Its Queen Boadicea led a revolt against the Romans in 61 AD.

Impressive discovery: Archeologists dig in the field in Dalinghoo, Suffolk. The find was the biggest in the last 150 years

Mr Darke said he contacted his friend ‘because I knew that he knew the rules with this kind of thing’, and claims it was agreed Mr Lewis would be given one coin for his collection of artefacts.

The next day they unearthed hundreds more coins, including 789 in the remains of an Iron Age cooking pot, and Mr Lewis held on to four of them as his ‘reward’.

More were later found by Suffolk County Council archaeologists.

‘It was not until I received a letter from the British Museum that I found out he had handed the four coins in and demanded half the reward,’ said Mr Darke, from Wickham Market, Suffolk.

When a coroner ruled the coins were treasure trove in July 2009 – allowing the finders and landowner to receive their full value upon sale to a museum – it was apparent there had been a falling out.

The men arrived separately to the hearing with lawyers and failed to exchange a single word.

Splitting the pot: The 840 coins are thought to have been buried by the Iceni tribe, whose Queen Boadicea led a revolt against the occupying Romans in AD 61

The coins will be bought by Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service, which has launched a fundraising drive.

Mr Darke has already appealed the ruling, but the decision was upheld by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey.

‘I trusted him (Mr Lewis) as a friend,’ he said. ‘I was totally gutted. It should have been exciting and interesting, and something to look forward to.’

Mr Lewis, a postman from Great Blakenham, near Ipswich, disputed the version of events.

‘I found the bulk of the coins and spent five hours on my knees digging them up,’ he added.