Published: 14:02 BST, 3 September 2026 | Updated: 14:08 BST, 3 September 2026
A homeowner digging up his garden to lay a new patio stumbled across Denmark's biggest ever haul of Viking silver.
The unnamed resident initially thought he had struck a piece of old iron or fencing while clearing stubborn grass, stones and gravel.
But after getting down on his hands and knees he began pulling jewellery, coins and silver bars from the earth.
The extraordinary haul weighs 41lbs (18.5kg) and contains around 700 objects and fragments dating from the 10th century.
It is almost three times heavier than Denmark's previous largest Viking silver find – the 6.5kg Terslev hoard.
The homeowner, from Rebild in northern Denmark, said: 'It should just have been a couple of hours of hard gardening removing stubborn grass, stones and gravel for a new tiled terrace, but it became the biggest surprise of my life.
A homeowner digging up his garden to lay a new patio stumbled across Denmark's biggest ever haul of Viking silver
The haul includes numerous silver ingots, arm rings, 47 complete coins and coin fragments, pieces of chopped-up silver – known as hacksilver – and even a tiny Thor's hammer
'After half an hour of digging, my garden fork hit something that made a strange sound.
'At first I thought it was old iron or fencing wire and some pottery shards, but when I started digging with my hands, I could suddenly pull one metal object after another out of the ground.
'After a short while carefully working, I realised they were jewellery, coins and silver bars.'
The treasure had been buried in a clay pot sometime during the 900s.
Around 320 objects weighing 6.4kg were still inside the vessel, while the remainder had become scattered through the surrounding soil.
The haul includes numerous silver ingots, arm rings, 47 complete coins and coin fragments, pieces of chopped–up silver – known as hacksilver – and even a tiny Thor's hammer.
