The two metal detectorists hatched an illegal plot to sell abroad rare Anglo-Saxon coins found near the South Shropshire border.
Craig Best, 46, and Roger Pilling, 75, were convicted of conspiring to sell criminal property worth £766,000, namely 44 ninth century coins believed to have been buried by a Viking and which have never been declared as Treasure, and have not been handed to the Crown.
The judge told them their offending was aggravated by their plan to sell the coins abroad, saying: “Had they left this country, they would have been likely to be lost to this nation for ever.”The judge accepted Pilling, having run an engineering business, was a man of good character and Best had a young family who relied on him.
Pilling, who according to the judge acquired the collection from the “black market”, was arrested at his home in Loveclough, Lancashire, and a further 41 coins were seized.
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