A girl holds up one of the coins discovered at Parbatia on Sunday. Pictures by UB Photos

Jorhat, Nov. 27: At least four clay pots full of silver coins belonging to the Victorian era were found in a xatra in Parbatia village this morning when an excavator employed to dig a well ploughed out the ancient currencies.

Youths watching the excavation at the xatra, established in 1760, suddenly spotted a few coins in the mud, said Kesab Mahanta, son of the xatradhikar Basudev Mahanta.

“A mad scramble followed to collect as many coins as they could,” Mahanta said.

After a thorough search, they collected broken pieces of what looked like at least four clay pots.

The pots may have been broken either by the excavator or the youths in the rush to collect the precious find.

Mahanta, however, could salvage only eight coins, though there must have been at least a hundred coins going by the sizes of the pots.

The rest have been picked up curious villagers who also spotted coins in the mud dumped on the road outside the xatra.

Mahanta said the coins in his possession were of dazzling silver and have the picture of Queen Victoria on all of them.

There were four one-rupee coins — with 1840 inscribed as the year of minting. One coin is of two annas, with 1840 as the year of minting, while three coins are of half anna denomination, with 1862 as the year of minting.

The xatradhikar’s son said he has informed the authorities of the Jorhat district museum about the recovery and would hand over the coins to officials once they visit the site.

Jorhat district museum officer Gautam Bordoloi said the recovery was “very good” and would be added to the museum.

He will visit the xatra later today or tomorrow since he is out of station.

“I have instructed my staff to visit to the place and request the villagers to return the coins,” the district museum officer said.

He said he would also request the xatradhikar to help retrieve the coins from the villagers.

Last year, the museum collected 12 silver coins of the Victorian period from Hoolunguri tea estate near Mariani town in the district.