Historic hoard of James VI coins valued at £50,000
Arizona Coin Collector
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5149091/Historic-hoard-of-James-VI-coins-valued-at-50000.html
Historic hoard of James VI coins valued at £50,000
Last Updated: 5:20PM BST 13 Apr 2009
A hoard of historic gold coins found by a builder in
the cellar of a block of flats he was renovating has
been valued at £50,000.
(STORY IMAGE)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01383/coins_1383299c.jpg
A hoard of 400 year old coins has been valued at
£50,000 after being discovered hidden in the wall
of an underground cellar in Oxfordshire.
The 400 year old gold "unites" - minted after James VI
of Scotland became the first Stuart king of England in
1603 - were found while digging the foundations for a
block of flats in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire.
He gave the 59 coins to his ten year old grandson - and
for many years they stayed in a shoe box with his others
treasures of seashells, marbles and stamps.
Now aged 39 and married with two children - and following
a lengthy treasure trove case - he has been given
permission to sell 57 of the coins at auction.
Two of the rarest have been bought by the British Museum
but the rest are expected to fetch about £50, 000 at
Morton and Eden in London on June 9.
Auctioneer James Morton said yesterday the coins - also
known as "jacobuses" - were all different and were minted
in Scotland for circulation there. "Whoever hid these
coins for safekeeping deliberately chose them as the most
reliable store of wealth. Their first owner would have
been a substantial, well-moneyed person, possibly a
merchant or land owner."
The anonymous lucky owner said: "I was gobsmacked when I
learned they were gold and worth so much money."
The treasure was unearthed 30 years ago when the ground
collapsed during digging to reveal the hidden cellar.
The coins were found in a space behind a large stone in
the wall of the cellar, which was later demolished.
The gold unites of King James - ruler of Scotland until
1603 when he became king of England as well, creating
the kingdom of Great Britain - bear the legend FACIAM
EOS IN GENTEM UNAM (I will make them one nation). They
will be sold individually with estimates dependent on
condition and rarity ranging from £400 to £2,500
per coin.
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