20 Feb 2013 Rare coin in a matchbox
Categories: Calendar , Nálezy nejenom s detektorem ve Velké Británii a Irsku
Fifty years after the owner's death, a rare half-cent has been found in the UK. It was in a matchbox. Only 1,400 of these coins were ever made. In 2013, the half-cent found sold for £225,700.
The coin itself dates from 1796. It was hidden in a small matchbox for 50 years. Only 1,400 of these copper half cents were minted, which is why the found piece sold for £225,700. The auction was organised by a well-known Wiltshire auction house.
The original owner of the coin was Oxford student Mark Hillary, who found it at the age of twenty while climbing mountains in 1963. Most of his collection had been sold long before the half cent. But another 50 coins remained hidden in his house.
The eighteenth-century coins were discovered by Mark's relatives when they were clearing out the attic. Among them, a copper half-cent in very good condition. The coin was of great interest to the Americans and was eventually acquired by The Numismatic Financial Corporation, a Florida company that buys and sells rare coins.
The price of the coin itself came to £185,000, but including other fees the company had to pay the aforementioned £225,700. Mark's relatives were delighted... The coin was made of pure copper at the Philadelphia Mint and its design was by engraver Robert Scott.
According to numismatist Daniel Fearon, the coin is truly beautiful and recognisable at first sight. "It is one of the few pieces to survive in such a state. Half cents have always been a rarity on the collector's market. Britain is exactly where you would expect to find one. In fact, the best examples of American coins have appeared in British collections over the years," Fearon explained.
He added that there was no collector's market in the US in the past. copper coins and copper trade tokens were widely collected," Fearon noted.
Half-cent coins were not very popular in the past and few were minted as the new gold and silver coins took precedence. Mark Hillary has been collecting coins since he was a child. He died in a climbing accident in Greece.
Sources: www.dailymail.co.uk
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