A '£150,000' hoard of 600 medieval coins found by amateur detectorists - believed to be the biggest found in decade - has been declared as treasure.

An inquest held at Beaconsfield Coroners Court said the hoard met the criteria for treasure after reading a report by Dr Barrie Cook, a curator at the British Museum.

Seven men found the coins on the Culden Faw Estate near Buckinghamshire, in April 2019 - including 12 rare gold nobles from the reign of Edward III.

Their finds — nicknamed the “Hambleden Hoard” — represent the biggest gold and silver collection found in the UK for around a decade.

The men were astonished to find coin after coin from the hidden ancient hoard.

Over four days they excavated 627 coins, including 12 ultra-rare full gold nobles from the time of the Black Death.

The hoard was unearthed by Andrew Winter, Dom Rapley, Eryk Wierucki, Jaroslaw Giedyna, Dariusz Fijalkowski and brothers Tobiasz and Mateusz Nowak.

They even slept in a tent by the hole to stop thieves during the dig.

Mr Butler described the 12 gold nobles from 1346 to 1351 as extremely rare with only 12 known examples found during a 1963 survey.

The rest of the hoard — 547 silver pennies from the reigns of Edward I and II, 21 Irish pennies, 20 continental coins and 27 Scottish pennies from the reign of Alexander III, John Balliol, and Robert the Bruce — were more commonly found.

It will now be left for the museum to negotiate a settlement with the finders and landowners, none of whom was present at the hearing.

Speaking at the time of the find, Mateusz Nowak said: "It felt unreal.

"After finding the hoard, and then clearing the area, we had to extend the search twice more because we were finding so much.

"It was a miracle moment after moment for everyone."

The face value of the coins would be a little over £6 in today’s money but the estimates of their worth range as high as £150,000.

The find was made at an organised rally which was held on a field near Hambleden, a village recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.

Anni Byard, finds liaison officer for the areas was called to oversee the excavation and the location of each coin was painstakingly plotted on a grid.

At the time the men said it would later be independently evaluated before being sold, with the value split with the landowner.