Dozens of Ancient Silver Coins Discovered in Viking ‘Wallet’ on Isle of Man

A 1,000-year-old Viking “wallet” containing dozens of silver coins was recently discovered by British historians on the Isle of Man, officials announced Monday.

Metal detectorists John Crowe and David O’Hare discovered the “hoard” of treasure — around 36 whole and fragmented coins — while searching on private land earlier in the year, the Manx National Heritage organization said on social media:

What is even more interesting is that the coins were minted under multiple different Irish and English rulers, with the majority from the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066 AD), as well as English kings Aethelred II (978-1016 AD) and Canute (1016-1035 AD).

The Irish coins “date from the middle of decades of AD 1000 and were all minted in Dublin,” the historical organization said, describing how they feature the profile of King Sihtric Silkbeard, a Hiberno-Norse king of Dublin who ruled from 989 to 1036 AD.

The Hiberno-Norse were a group of people of mixed Gaelic and Norse ancestry who emerged during the Viking era, according to Heritage Ireland. 

After examining the most recent coins, Manx National Heritage determined that the stash was “abandoned shortly before AD 1070.”

The historical group compared the findings to a “wallet containing all kinds of credit cards, notes and coins, perhaps of different nationalities, such as when you prepare to travel overseas,” and said it revealed the “variety of currencies available to an Irish Sea trader or inhabitants of Man in this period.”

“This is a wonderful find which helps further our understanding of the complex Viking Age economy in the Isle of Man, where more Viking Age silver has been discovered per square kilometer than in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales,” said Allison Fox, the archaeology curator at Manx National Heritage.