19-year-old digs up 500-year-old gold coins!

When Jason Clarke started digging a drainage ditch, little did he realise that he would lay his hands on coins that were in circulation in 1510.

London, Aug 28 : When Jason Clarke started digging a drainage ditch, little did he realise that he would lay his hands on coins that were in circulation in 1510.

The labourer from Great Coxwell, who was doing the work at a home in Burford, Glouc, was surprised when he spotted a glint of gold.

He kept digging to find 204 Angel and half-Angel coins.

The coins are worth 160,000 pounds, according to experts at auction house Sotheby's.

However, the discovered booty will be handed over to the Crown under treasure trove laws.

Yet, Clarke will pocket a sum of 40,000 pounds as a reward from the government.

The 19-year-old's boss will receive around 40,000 pounds and the owner of house, where the treasure was found, will get 80,000 pounds.

"I was astonished. We were using a mechanical digger and the boss was controlling it while I was on the ground. Then we both spotted a glint of gold. The hole was full of coins," the Sun quoted Clarke, as saying.

"I scrabbled around and kept finding more and more. I ended up filling a bag full of them," he added.

Clarke has decided to buy a flat using the money.

"It's a great find," his dad Trevor said.

ANI