MUSEUM chiefs in Taunton are appealing for a rich benefactor to stop the largest ever hoard of Roman coins found in this country going abroad.

The Museum of Somerset wants to keep the 52,500 coins found near Frome in the county town.

But it is struggling to find the £320,000 needed to stop them being auctioned off.

The museum so far has just over £90,000 and needs to find the rest of the money by February 19 – otherwise the finder and landowner will be free to sell to the highest bidder.

Steve Minnitt, head of museums at Somerset County Council Heritage Service, said he “lived in hope” the money could be raised in time – or that a benefactor will come forward and stump up the cash.

Mr Minnitt added: “If the coins were placed on the open market and sold, that would be the worst outcome.”

Hospital chef Dave Crisp discovered the hoard of 1,700-year-old coins in a clay ‘piggy bank’ in a field last April.

He said: “It’s such an important thing that Somerset gets these coins and they’re on display for the people of Somerset.

“The people who buried these coins, the Romans, they’d been here nearly 300 years – they were Somerset people by then, so these are Somerset coins.

“I think it would be a great shame if Somerset lost them and they went to another museum.”