Six Celtic golden torcs have been found packed among 70,000 coins from a Jersey Island hoard

IT was an incredible find: 70,000 ancient Celtic coins unearthed on an island off the coast of Britain. But now the loot is revealing even greater treasures.

Rare, mystical treasure unearthed

IT was an incredible find: 70,000 ancient Celtic coins unearthed on an island off the coast of Britain. But now the hoard is revealing even greater treasures.

The story of the Le Catillon II hoard is a classic treasure hunt: A mystical island, a long-forgotten sighting, a decades-long quest — and the ultimate discovery of a mound of ancient coins.

Since the find in 2012, archaeologists have been carefully picking away at the tightly packed mass of mud and metal to find out exactly what is within.

Now they’ve made a new discovery: Six incredibly rare, perfectly preserved mystical Celtic golden torcs.

And that’s likely to just be a start.

Exposed ... Part of a golden torc emerging from a solid mass of coins, jewellery and bullion found on the island of Jersey. Source: Jersey Heritage

Just how this treasure trove came to be buried on an island between France and England in the English Channel is a mystery.

The heavy metal neckbands are part of the iconic image of the mysterious culture of settlers which occupied Europe before being overwhelmed by the advance of the Roman Empire.

But very few have been found in good condition.

RELATED: $10 million in Golden Eagles found in buried tin cans

The exact significance of the distinctive golden collar-band torc had for the Celts is lost to history. They were very difficult to put on, and so seemed intended to be worn almost permanently. It may have been a badge of rank. They may have also carried religious significance.

They were often works of art.

The dying Gaul ... This Roman marble statue was made to celebrate a victory over a Celtic tribe. It shows the distinctive torc worn by the Celts about their necks. Source: Supplied

What lies within

The first hint of gold was seen as early as 2012 when the surrounding pack of mud was washed away. A scattering of silver jewellery was also seen crammed among the coins.

It was too dense a mass of metal for X-rays to expose exactly what lay within. So some 2000 loose coins have been carefully detailed and removed before the block was prepared for analysis.

Only now has the full scale of the treasure been determined. With the position of each coin carefully scanned and recorded, work to carefully prise apart the block has begun.

The initial 30,000 to 50,000 coin estimate has been found to be far too low. Now archaeologists think the figure is closer to 70,000.

Puzzle ... The tightly packed cluster of 70,000 coins and an unknown amount of jewellery is yet to reveal all its tresures. Source: Jersey Heritage

“Then we made the discovery of the project so far,” the Jersey Heritage blog recording the analysis of the find reads. “At first it appeared to be a thick, tightly curved gold torc but when cleaned back a bit it was revealed as a pair of solid gold “wheels” at the end of a thick, curved, gold torc collar ... The sheer size of this piece is amazing in comparison to everything else we’ve seen yet and the torc surface appears to be in good condition and of a very pure gold.”

The discoveries are yet to end.

King’s ransom? Archaeologists have little idea what caused the equivalent of a national treasury to be buried in a remote field on the island of Jersey. Source: Jersey Heritage

“In the same way that we found the large torc while clearing around another one, we have continued to find more new pieces as we cleared around it,” A December 8 blog entry reads.” As such we just don’t know how far the rich area of jewellery extends throughout the hoard’s body, but it’s certainly further than we initially thought.”

As the block was dissected in recent months, six torcs — five of solid gold, one gold plated — were exposed.

The vast majority of the bronze, silver and gold coins have been identified as belonging to the Coriosolitae tribe.

Treasure hunt

It all started 30 years ago when a woman told two local men how her father had long before uprooted a tree on their farm, exposing a pot of rusted coins. Thinking it worthless, he filled in the root-hole — leaving the hoard where it was.

Richard Miles and Reg Mead, the hoard’s finders, pressed her further: She could remember roughly where on the farm it had been, but not exactly.

Thus began their three decade quest.

Tantalising traces ... A piece of jewellery peeks between some of the 70,000 coins of the Jersey hoard. Source: Jersey Heritage

They had been given the permission of the farm’s owner to use metal detection equipment on his land — but only during a narrow “window of opportunity” between each year’s harvests.

It took until February 2012 before their efforts were rewarded. At first it was a cluster of 60 coins which appeared to be Celtic. Then they dug deeper — and hit a solid mass.

But they did not indulge in a frenzy of ripping handfuls of coins out of the ground.

Treasure trove ... The tightly packed coins and jewellery is carefull removed from a Jersey field. Source: Jersey Heretage

Instead, they covered their find back up — and contacted the local heritage authority.

The hoard was carefully excavated and now sits in a hermetically sealed laboratory, set behind glass in a public chamber of the Jersey Museum.

The painstaking work to gently prise apart the coins, ingots and jewellery is expected to take several years to complete.