During this lockdown, I find myself reading more and more. So when I came across an article that involved two of the things I love to do/collect, I find myself having to share with you guys this great little story of how one lucky metal detectorist made a find of a lifetime, and managed to profit from being lucky.
THE FIND
A rare coin from the short reign of the boy king of England, Edward the Martyr, from over 1,000 years ago has been found by a metal detectorist. The small, silver penny was unearthed in a field on the Isle of Wight by the amateur treasure hunter who wished to remain anonymous.
The Saxon coin was found buried just five inches down by the 68-year-old retired council worker, who was on a club rally at the time. After scraping off the mud, to his amazement, he revealed the bust of Edward wearing a diadem and facing left.
THE HISTORY BIT
The Saxon coin depicts the head of Edward the Martyr who was only 13-years-old when he was crowned king after the death of his father Edgar in 975AD. He ruled England for three years before being assassinated in 978AD by supporters of his half-brother Aethelred.
Edward was the son of King Edgar and his first wife, Aethelflaed and although he was crowned king upon his father's death in 975, some, including Edgar's second wife Aelfthryth, supported his half-brother, Aethelred II.
On March 18, 978 Edward was en route to meet with Aethelred and Aelfthryth he was pulled from his horse in Corfe Castle, Dorset and murdered by their supporters. He was hastily buried in nearby Wareham. Some time later his body was venerated as a saint and martyr and was there exhumed and taken to a shrine at Shaftesbury Abbey in 1001. The shrine was lost during the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century, but his bones were rediscovered in 1931 and now reside at a shrine in the Russian Orthodox Church in Brookwood, Surrey.
MORE ABOUT THE COIN
On one side of the silver penny are the words 'EDPEARD REX ANGLORX' which translates as 'Edward king of the English, and on the reverse is a small cross in the centre with the words 'AELSTAN M'O CANT' - Aelfstan moneyer of Canterbury - written around the edge.
There were only 39 mints operating around the country at the time, with three moneyers working at Canterbury. Very few coins are known to survive from Edward's reign, making the piece incredibly collectible for enthusiasts.
Coin specialists say the silver piece is an example of Britain's early unified coinage. It would have been accepted throughout the kingdoms of Britain and even throughout the world due to its previous metal value.
THE HYPE AND EXCITEMENT GROWS
When a coin like this comes to light, the word gets around coin collecting circles pretty quick, especially when the coin is of this age and in such good condition.
It was decided that the coin would head to auction and proceeds split between finder and land owner.
Aution owner Jim Brown, coin specialist at Dix Noonan Webb Aution hoise, said: "With coins of this nature their value depends on two things - their rarity and their condition". In this case, the finder was lucky enough to have both, and the Aution house were expecting a fair bit of interest in it for sure.
Not only does age, condition and scarcity play a large part in determining a value, the story/history of a piece can dramatically add to it.
Since the coin was found on the Isle of Wight, but with no indication of how it got there, the history of this coin could drive bidding action right up and over the expected £7000 valuation.
Local historians have suggested that there are number of possibilities as to what this coin was doing there. This was a time of quite a lot of trade between Britain and the continent, so it may have been on it's way to Europe to pay for something there.
BIG DAY AT THE AUCTION
Experts said the coin is exceptionally rare and appeared as though it were newly struck by the Saxons when it was unearthed back in March 2018. Although this coin is not considered exceptionally rare with just over 800 known to exist today, the quality puts it up amongst the top 10 to be found.
In a packed auction room, bidding began at a fast pace and quickly flew past the £7000 guideline.... Soon it passed, £8k,£9k, £10k before the winning bidder won the auction for a whopping £11.160, over four thousand more than expected.
Part of the proceeds will be donated to NHS Charities Together which works with more than 250 charities.