A couple who found a hoard of Tudor gold coins while weeding out their back garden are celebrating – after they were sold for £467,000.
The husband and wife unearthed the stash of 70 coins in clumps of clay soil at the bottom of the garden of their suburban home in Milford-on-Sea, Hampshire.
After wiping off the mud and laying the treasure out in their decking they realised the gold pieces were in a remarkable state of preservation.
The earliest coins dated to the reign of King Henry VI in the 1420s, although a large number are from the 1530s and the reign of Henry VIII.
Some contain the initials of two of Henry’s wives, Catherine of Aragon and Jane Seymour.
The hoard is thought to have been buried for safekeeping by an incredibly wealthy church cleric during the time of Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries and Catholic priories.
The couple, who have asked not to be named for fear treasure hunters may descend on their quiet street, notified the authorities of their discovery in 2020.
The hoard went under the hammer at David Guest Numismatics’ auction in Zurich, Switzerland on Wednesday night for a total of £381,407. Including fees it came to an eye-watering £467,215.
Pictured: The Crown of the Double Rose, with Katherine of Aragon. The coin, which sold for £8,000, was part of a collection a couple found while weeding out their back garden
The top-selling item was the 1536 Jane Seymour gold crown that achieved a world record price of £17,000.
A Henry VIII gold ‘angel’ that depicts St Michael spearing a dragon on one side and a Tudor ship on the other sold for £15,000.
And the Catherine of Aragon coin sold for £8,000.
The couple, who are aged in their 50s and have two children, were ‘amazed’ and ‘shocked’ by the result which was like a lottery win for them.
They said: ‘Since we discovered the coins it’s been an extraordinary journey; learning about the coins, meeting all the experts and now this extraordinary sale.’
The pair are believed to be planning on spending some of their windfall on a nice holiday and a snooker table for their home.
Mr Guest said: ‘It was a great sale, every single coin sold. The total price achieved was almost double the pre-sale estimated price. It is not a bad result for a bit of gardening work.
‘The hoard was a dream find for the sellers and the outcome of the sale is like a lottery win for them.
The husband and wife unearthed the stash of 70 coins in clumps of clay soil at the bottom of the garden of their suburban home in Milford-on-Sea, Hampshire, pictured
‘We had considerable interest in the sale, people love stories about the thrill of finding buried treasure.
‘The quality of many of the coins and the state of their preservation was also an important factor.
‘The price achieved for the Henry VIII and Jane Seymour crown is a world record for one of these.’
Usually, the finders have to share the proceeds with the landowner but in this case the finders are the landowners.
Although the stash was declared treasure it was later disclaimed and returned to the finders as no museums or institutions were in a position to buy it due to the Covid hiatus.
Mr Guest said: ‘The couple found it while they were gardening at the end of the garden of their home in Milford-on-Sea.
‘They were digging out a fence post in a flower border and found these circular discs in a clump of clay soil.
‘They put them on the decking and washed them off and realised they were gold coins so they carried on digging and found a total of 64 of them in the same spot.
The coin hoard pictured after its discovery in a back garden. After wiping off the mud they realised the pieces were in a remarkable state of preservation
‘After they notified the Portable Antiquities Scheme the coins were examined by the British Museum.
‘They organised a further archaeological dig of the site and found six more coins.
‘The earliest coins are from the reign of Henry VI in the 1420s and they go right up to 1537 and the reign of Henry VIII. They are in a remarkable state of preservation.’
He added: ‘It is clearly a savings hoard put together over a large period of time. The total amount was £26 which was about the same as the price of a house back then.
‘It was a lot of money. I doubt most people in England at the time ever saw a gold coin.
‘The gold coins could have belonged to a merchant of considerable wealth or a church cleric who was very rich.
‘The dissolution of the monasteries was a very tumultuous time and we know that other hoards were buried at this time to keep money away from the King’s commissioners that sought to take control of lands.’
Mr Guest added: ‘The finders have lived at the house for quite a long time and were sitting on a gold mine.
‘I don’t think anyone digging in their back garden can imagine what it would be like to find one gold coin from Tudor times let alone a hoard of 70.’
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