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Discovery: Paul Coleman, 59, found the stash of Anglo Saxon coins worth £1million during the dig

An amateur treasure hunter who uncovered one of the largest hoards of Anglo Saxon coins ever found in Britain - worth £1million - almost missed the dig because he couldn't afford the petrol.

Paul Coleman, 59, persuaded his son and a friend to join him on the excavation on farmland in Lenborough, Buckinghamshire just before Christmas so he could split the £45 cost for the journey.

But the unemployed father-of-two hit the jackpot when he dug up the pristine collection of more than 5,000 silver coins made in the reigns of Ethelred the Unready (978-1016) and Cnut (1016-1035).

It is thought that the find could be connected to a mint established by Ethelred at nearby Buckingham and which remained active during the time of Cnut.

The 5,251 coins were in a lead-lined container buried two feet under ground. Only some have been properly cleaned but all have proved to be in excellent condition.

The expedition – in Lenborough, Buckinghamshire – was an end-of-year rally for members of the Weekend Wanderers Detecting Club.

Mr Coleman told the Daily Mirror: 'I found a piece of lead and thought it was junk. But then I looked back in the hole and saw one shiny coin. Then I lifted a larger piece of lead and saw row upon row of coins stacked neatly.

'By that point the excitement had built up and I was grinning from ear to ear.

'I recently borrowed a little bit extra on the mortgage just to tide me over. But this means I will never have to work again - it's a massive weight off my mind.'

The grandfather-of-four said he will share some of his fortune with his metal detector friends  - a customary tradition with a big find - and has pledged to buy a new house for his wife Christine, 53.

Mr Coleman, who owns a Southampton-based wedding cars business, has been metal detecting for four decades and will also split the proceeds from the 5,251 coins with the landowner.

Ros Tyrrell, who is based at the county museum in nearby Aylesbury, was there to record the finds. 

Mr Coleman with his wife Christine. He has promised he will use the money to buy them both a new house

Hoard: One of the largest hauls of Anglo Saxon silver coins in British history has been found by an amateur treasure hunter in a field. The volunteers put the silver in sandwich pouches inside a Sainsbury's carrier bag

Special: The diggers knew they had stumbled across something remarkable when they picked up a signal the size of a manhole cover. The coins were hidden inside a lead bucket with the top folded in, they said

She said: 'The coins were wrapped in lead sheeting and were covered in clay and silt which had seeped through where the lead had started to deteriorate but they were otherwise pristine.

'Those that we cleaned dated from the time of Ethelred the Unready and Cnut. There was a mint in Buckingham during their time so the find is possibly connected to that, or indeed the Saxon burgh – a defended encampment – also in the area.

'We cleaned mud away from only a handful of the coins so it's possible there could have been older or newer coins in there too.

'Either way, it is certainly the biggest hoard I have ever been involved with, and the largest hoard ever discovered in Buckinghamshire.'

Miss Tyrrell said the find, which has been sent to experts at the British Museum for analysis, could be worth around £1million.

Simon Keynes, professor of Anglo Saxon at Cambridge University, said the collection 'straddled an extraordinary period of history' during which the Vikings took control of England.

Pete Welch, the club's leader for 23 years, said: 'It looks like only two people have handled these coins, the person who made them and the person who buried them. This would have been a huge amount of money'

Origin: The coins could have come from King Canute's Buckingham mint 15 miles away, one of 70 at the time

Treasure: The man who found the coins, named only as Paul, could be in line for a six-figure payout

Commomn: The early pennies were made of silver by workmen who could stamp more than 2,000 a day

He added: 'The question is, how do we account for the composition of this hoard? Is it a hoard of a Viking – his accumulated wealth – or is it something else? Only half of the coins have been cleaned so far – the eventual date range could prove to be much more expansive.

'Until then, the hoard could be difficult to explain, but it is certainly an extraordinary find.'

Mr Coleman's son Liam, who helped his father excavate the coins with Miss Tyrrell, said he had been delighted.

Liam, a 29-year-old sign fitter and metal detector enthusiast, added: 'People consider finding just one of those coins a once in a lifetime event, let alone a stash of thousands. Just being able to hold one was an honour.'

Peter Welch, 56, who organised the dig on December 21, said the coins were like mirrors and had not been scratched.

Dig: More than 100 people turned up to the day of metal detecting on a farmer's field in Buckinghamshire

Gathered round: The club members awaiting the results of the find. A spokesman for the Buckinghamshire County Museum said: 'This is one of the largest hoards of Anglo Saxon coins ever found in Britain'

Incredible! MASSIVE trove of Roman coins unearthed (related)

He added: 'It looks like only two people have handled these coins. The person who made them and the person who buried them.'

A coroner will decide whether the coins are legally treasure. If that is the verdict, the money from their sale to a museum will be split between the unidentified landowner and Mr Coleman.

Ethelred became king at the age of seven after the murder of his half-brother Edward II in 978 at Corfe Castle in Dorset.

In 1002 he ordered the massacre of all Danes in England to eliminate potential treachery but 11 years later was forced to flee to Normandy when Sweyn of Denmark dispossessed him.

Ethelred – whose nickname 'Unready' comes from the Anglo Saxon for 'ill-advised' – returned to rule after Sweyn's death in 1014, but died during the Danish invasion of 1016. He was the first king of England to be buried at St Paul's Cathedral.

He was succeeded by Edmund II and then Cnut, the son of Sweyn, who consolidated his position by marrying Ethelred's widow Emma.

Cnut was also king of Denmark, and even extended his rule into Norway and parts of Sweden – putting him in charge of what is now seen as a North Sea Empire. Following his death in 1035 he was buried in Winchester.

In July 2009, unemployed metal detector enthusiast Terry Herbert discovered the largest ever hoard of Anglo Saxon treasure in a field at Hammerwich, near Lichfield in Staffordshire.

Consisting of more than 3,500 gold and silver warrior artefacts, the 'Staffordshire Hoard' was valued at £3.3million with the money split between Mr Herbert and farmer Fred Johnson.