TWO amateur archeologists were celebrating last night after uncovering a hoard of 50,000 Iron Age coins worth up to £10million. Reg Mead and Richard Miles spent 30 years scouring fields in Jersey with metal detectors after hearing rumours about ancient treasure being buried on the land.

For the first time archaeologists are showing a 1.8-kilo haul of gold they found while performing excavations around a gas pipeline last year.

The bracelets, rings and other objects have been stored at Lower Saxony’s State Conservation Office since they were found in April 2011 near the town of Syke, while engineers prepared for construction of the so-called Nord Stream pipeline.

When a haul of 200 gold sovereigns like this one were found at a charity dig in Essex, only two were handed in. Metal detector enthusiasts who struck gold at a charity fundraising dig are believed to have fled with the loot – worth up to £70,000.