Coin hoard exceeds sale estimate
A hoard of gold coins found by a builder in
the cellar of an Oxfordshire flat has sold at auction for £76,360.
The 400-year-old coins,
minted during James I's reign, were
valued by auctioneers at about £50,000 and were found in Chipping Norton 30
years ago.
They were bought by private buyers and trade dealers
in a specialist coin auction in London.
The two rarest coins were sold earlier to the British
Museum. There were 50 bidders for the remaining 57 coins.
The coins were known as Unites, signifying James I's
intention to unify England and Scotland, and were worth about £1 in England
when they were first produced.
Auctioneer James Moreton said the builder had given
the coins to his grandson along with some other items in his personal
collection.
He said: "The gentleman who found them originally
didn't even realise they were gold.
"It was only much later, when his grandson showed
them to me in 2005, that I was able to tell him what they really were."
Source: news.bbc.co.uk