A hoard of gold coins that was stashed in a piano in Shropshire has been declared treasure after its original owner failed to come forward. The collection of more than 900 gold sovereigns and half sovereigns from 1847 to 1915 was discovered by piano tuner Martin Backhouse when he came to tune a Broadwood & Sons piano at the Bishop’s Castle Community College. The coins had been concealed under the keyboard of the upright piano, stitched into seven cloth packets and a leather purse.

The hoard has been declared treasure under the Treasure Act (1996) by Shrewsbury coroner John Ellery after a three-month appeal for its original owners yielded no viable claimants – though 50 people came forward to lay claim to the coins. For a hoard less than 300 years old to be classified as Treasure, it must be substantially made of gold or silver, deliberately concealed by the owner with a view to later recovery and the owner, or his or her present heirs. As treasure, ownership of the hoard now lies with the crown and a committee from the British Museum will now value the coins, which add up to an equivalent of more...