Metal Detectorist Finds 1200 Year Old Coin In Plowed Field

Metal detectorist finds 1200 year old coin in plowed field

After six years of looking, the penny finally dropped for metal detectorist Clive Nobbs.

It was like finding a needle in a haystack, but uncovering the coin in the middle of a 20-acre plowed field was considerably more rewarding for the 47-year-old amateur archaeologist and historian.

This is no ordinary penny. More than 1200 years old, it is an exceptionally rare silver penny of Queen Cynethryth, valued at around £2,000. Cynethryth was the wife of King Offa of Mercia (AD 757-796).

"This is easily the most important thing I've ever found," said Clive, an Assistant Quality Assurance Manager for an aircraft parts supplier. "It didn't look like much when I found it. It was about four or five inches down and black with age but it turns out to be incredibly rare."

The coin will be sold by specialist London auctioneers Morton & Eden on June 9. Specialist Tom Eden said: "This is an exciting discovery. All Cynethryth pennies are rare, but this example is very rare because it bears her portrait. Very little is known of Cynethryth herself, but she must have been held in high esteem for coins to have been issued in her name. Much more is known about her husband, King Offa, one of the great Anglo-Saxon rulers, famous for the dyke he built between Mercia and Wales.

"Cynethryth's coins are the only examples struck in the name of a queen throughout the Dark Ages, both in England and Europe. In fact, no other women appear on English coins until the 12th century, when very rare pennies depicting Matilda were struck during the civil war in the reign of King Stephen. So Cynethryth's coins are the first to depict an English woman and as such are of significant importance from an iconographic point of view."

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