A metal detectorist discovered a hoard of 1,469 Roman silver denarii near the village of Leta Veche in southern Romania close to the border with Bulgaria. The coins date to the early imperial era, between the mid-1st century and the mid-2nd century A.D., and make up one of the largest ancient coin hauls ever found in Romania.BebeMangeac made the find in a field while out on a walk with his trusty metal detector on April 19th, the Saturday before Easter. His detector gave him a strong alert, and when he just below the surface, the first silver coins emerged. More followed. Many, many more. He kept digging, putting the ones pulled out in a bag. There were other detectorists around, and he didnt want to leave any of the coins from the hoard behind to be separated from the bulk.By Romanian law, archaeological finds have to be reported to the authorities within 72 hours. Because of the Easter holidays, Mangeac was going to be cutting it close. He spent Sunday and Monday photographing the coins, then presented the entire coin hoard to the City Hall of Leta Veche. Police were on hand to oversee the transfer, and to get the precise coordinates of the find site to protect it before it is declared an official archaeological site and is thoroughly and professionally excavated.The coins have now been fully inventoried. The earliest coin dates to 54 A.D., the reign of Nero. The most recent dates to 161 A.D. in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. They are all silver denarii and heavily worn so they certainly saw many years of circulation before they were collected. Because the dates range so widely and the coins are all silver, this was likely a collection accumulated over time, maybe even someones life savings.Along with the denarii, Mangeac found fragments of a ceramic vessel. The potsherds are thick and curved, perhaps from a small amphora. It is not clear if all the coins were originally stored in the vessel, but it may have even been broken before burial in a protective ritual to keep the deposit safe.The findings will now be transferred to the County Directorate for Culture where they will be evaluated before they are allocated to the Teohari Antonescu County Museum in Giurgiu. The coins will evaluated and documented in detail cleaned, identified, dated, appraised, the metal content analyzed. The local museum is already very short on space for their current collection, however, so cramming in another 1500 more coins will be challenging, especially since the hoard is such a sensational find it will attract experts from other institutions, including the National Museum of History of Romania.Once the hoards value is estimated, the finder will be legally entitled to a reward of up to 45% of the assessed value, which in this case is sure to be substantial.