Coingratulations!

But while the film is fantasy, a fantastic hoard of Roman coins found by a metal detector buff in a field near Shoreham is very real.

Former soldier Jay Howe has been scouring the countryside with a metal detector for almost 20 years.

He has found the odd gold coin, plenty of scrap iron and even a Cartier ring in a pond.

But nothing could prepare him for the day he stumbled across thousands of Roman coins dating back 1,700 years.

Jay, a 34-year-old father of three from South Farm Road, Worthing, was sweeping farmland 3km north of Shoreham with pals from the West Sussex Historical Search Society when he unearthed the find of a lifetime.

He said: "The Canadian army had used the land as a training area during the last war and it was absolutely riddled with empty cartridge cases.

"The idea was that whoever found the most weight in scrap brass would win a bottle of Scotch, and I can't even stand the stuff.

"I had found two Roman coins and about 3lb of scrap brass. Soon enough I found another Roman coin, followed by two more. The thought of a hoard flashed through my mind.

"Within 15 minutes I had 15 coins in my pouch. I knew it had to be a hoard."

In pouring rain Jay, secretary of the society, dug deeper and found a mass of fused coins 6in down.

He said: "I proceeded to put them in my woolly hat, which was full in no time at all. I took off my jacket and laid it on the ground and started to place coins on it."

Other detectorists gathered around him and helped search for more coins.

Jay said: "People were coming over to the jacket and adding handfuls of coins to the pile."

A total of 3,637 coins came to light that day and a further 461 were found over the next ten days.

Jay informed Worthing coroner's officer Brian Tilt, who passed the coins and pottery fragments from the jar they were originally stored in to Worthing Museum curator Dr Sally White.

She dated the coins, mostly made of a bronze and silver alloy, to the late Third Century, and estimated they would probably have been worth the equivalent of £15,000 to £20,000 in Roman times.

The hoard was so heavy it had to be carried by two people on its way to the British Museum.

Richard Abdy, assistant curator of Roman coins at the Museum, said all but two of the coins fell within the years 238AD to 274AD, a period of intense unrest and misfortune in the Roman empire.

He said: "A remarkably quick turnover of emperors due to military setbacks, plagues and political instability culminated in Britain breaking away from central control to form a seemingly separate state."

But local leaders fought among themselves for power and it is possible the owner of the coins buried them for safe keeping with the intention of returning to collect them at a later date.

Dr White said the coins had been cleaned up and experts at the British Museum were trying to put a value on them.

They are expected to deliver their valuation in July.

Jay had heard rumours that the hoard could be worth up to £10,000 but reckons between £2,000 and £5,000 is more realistic.

He will get the full market value after the coins were declared treasure trove and has vowed to split the cash 50-50 with the landowner.

The Sussex Archaeological Society hopes to acquire the hoard for display at the Marlipins Museum, Shoreham.

Jay said: "Normally I take the kids on the beach and find enough loose change to buy an ice cream, so this was certainly the find of a lifetime."