Couple find gold coins worth £250,000 while renovating kitchen of North Yorkshire home
A house refurbishment in northern England has uncovered a trove of gold coins, which could be worth up to £250,000 ($290,000) at auction next month
The discovery is one of the biggest hoards of 18th-century English gold coins ever uncovered in Britain, according to auction house Spink & Son in a press release sent to CNN on Thursday.
While renovating their kitchen in July 2019, residents unearthed a salt-glazed earthenware cup burrowed underneath the concrete and floorboards of their home in Ellerby, North Yorkshire.
The cup, described as being no larger than a soft-drink can, contained more than 260 gold coins dating from 1610 to 1727. The stash of coins has an estimated value of £100,000 ($116,00) in today’s spending power, auctioneers said.
Gregory Edmund, an auctioneer with Spink & Son, said the remarkable trove is unlike any find in British archaeology or like any coin auction in living memory.
“It is a wonderful and truly unexpected discovery from so unassuming a find location,” Edmund said in the press release.
“This find of over 260 coins is also one of the largest on archaeological record from Britain, and certainly for the 18th century period,” he added.
“The coins almost certainly belonged to the Fernley-Maisters, Joseph and Sarah who married in 1694,” reads the press release.