Pristine Constantine gold solidus found in Somerset

http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/56154

An exceptional gold solidus of Emperor Constantine I, the first of its type ever discovered in Britain, will be sold at auction by the finder and landowner. It was discovered by a metal detector hobbyist in June of this year in Wanstrow, Somerset. June 7th was the first time he’d searched that field near an old Roman road. Wielding a second-hand metal detector, he first found a Roman brooch and some pieces of lead ore (the Roman road was used to transport lead from nearby mines). Then, a foot under the surface, he found a single gold coin.

 

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Wow ! What a great find. The auction house estimate of the coin at 10,000 - 12,000 British Pounds seems ridiculously low .

 

I would sell it for more. Can the finder keep it? Or does it have to be sold because of the U.K.'s antiquities law? Super coin.

 

They are notoriously low on their estimates. I would guess 300% of high estimate.

 

Recently Roger Bland gave an excellent lecture on the worthiness and success of the UK's Portable Antiquities Scheme.



I wonder what would've happened to the OP coin if such a scheme was not in place?

 

I was in Somerset last week, a bit of a backwater in Britain, South-West, but there were German traces alright, even in this little museum in the 7,000 inhabitants town of Crewkerne, just around the corner from the 1930s vacuum cleaners and the first Flip Toaster.





I didn't find a solidus, but still, a very nice place to be.