The silver treasure from Vedbygård

This exhibit is no longer available

In the 1000s, a wealthy man dug a vessel filled with silver coins into the ground at Vedbygård near Ruds Vedby. It was probably intended that the fortune should only be in the ground for a short time, but it was not dug up again until 2020, when two local detector drivers Per Carlsen and Jimmy Christensen found it.

They were out searching Vedbygård's fields when their detectors started buzzing. They dug carefully on and around the site and to their great delight found nearly 200 shiny silver coins. Museum Vestsjælland was contacted and the museum's archaeologists subsequently found the remains of a clay vessel with many silver coins lying in it. The excavated soil around the vessel was searched by the detector people and they found another almost 80 coins. The clay vessel was wrapped in plaster gauze to stabilize the lump of earth so that it could be transported in perfect condition to the museum.

The coins
The individual coins, each weighing about 1 gram and measuring 17 mm in diameter, have been struck in Denmark, England and perhaps Germany by i.a. Knud the Great (King of Denmark and England 1019-1035) and Svend Estridsen (King 1047-1074).

The coin treasure is Danefæ and will therefore be handed over to the National Museum when it has been exhibited at Sorø Museum. The silver treasure with the over 600 silver coins can be seen at Sorø Museum until 17 December. See the museum's opening hours here.

Read more about Per Carlsen and Jimmy Christensen's findings of the silver treasure here.