A CORONER has declared 110 Roman silver coins found in a Riddlesden field as treasure.

Stephen Auker, who uncovered them in May using a metal detector he got for Christmas, said he was left "beaming" by Bradford Assistant Coroner Oliver Longstaff's verdict at a treasure trove inquest yesterday.

"The Coroner and myself had a smile on our faces all the way through. It was obvious there was a twinkle in his eye, as there was in mine," said Mr Auker, 57, of Riddlesden.

The next part of the process is for a panel of experts at the British Museum to value the hoard and come to an agreement with Mr Auker and the owner of the field as to what the reward should be. That amount will then be shared between the two of them.

At that stage the hoard will be offered to Cliffe Castle Museum in Keighley, said Mr Auker, who weeks after finding the coins went on to discover a gold Tudor merchant's ring dating back to about 1550 but this time in a different field in Riddlesden.

The locations of the field have to remain secret but Mr Auker believes the coins he dug up could originally have been kept in some kind of vessel that was shattered about 24ins down in the earth by a mediaeval plough.

He had only just taken up the hobby after getting a metal detector from his wife for Christmas, which, he said has turned out to be the best present of his life.

It took him about six weeks to get all the coins and he had to dig about 1,500 holes going through countless ring pulls and bits of scrap metal.

Recording his verdict Mr Longstaff said it gave him great pleasure to find the hoard as treasure and commented on how pleasant it was to send someone away from the court with a smile on their face.

During the inquest, a report from West Yorkshire Archaeological Service said some of the coins discovered by Mr Auker were "quite uncommon" and had only been found on four other occasions in Britain - all of which were in Yorkshire and one of which in Riddlesden.

The coins were similar to those found in Riddlesden in 1775, the inquest heard.