Gold from the garden

The rare gold coin, approximately 500 years old, was found by a woman in the garden of her home in Portsmouth, England. She borrowed the metal detector from her son when she was bored. If she sells the coin, she could make up to £2,500.

Forty-eight-year-old Amanda Johnston was bored at home. She lives in a suburb of Portsmouth, which is on the south coast of the UK in the English county of Hampshire. So she borrowed a metal detector from her son George and started looking for treasures. The first time she found only a few worthless nails, but the next time she tried, she found a 16th-century coin from the reign of Henry VII. Tudor. And the so-called Golden Angel, which is only 29 millimetres across and weighs 5 grams.

These coins were made of 22 carat gold. They circulated for about 200 years and were worth six shillings and eight pence. If the recovered coin is sold, Johnston, as the owner of the property, is entitled to the full reward and does not have to share it with anyone. However, she does not have to report it to the relevant coroner at all. It is compulsory to report the discovery of more than two coins.

A prospector discovered a gold coin in her back garden. "It's unbelievable and I still can't believe it. When I pulled the coin out of the dirt it was thin and quite fragile. I immediately realised that it seemed to be something special. When I started looking with the metal detector, the first thing I found was just worthless nails," said Johnston, who is the mother of two sons.

The value of the coin found is around £2,500. "At first I thought I would keep the coin. But £2,500 from the sale is a really tempting sum," Johnston thinks. Her sons - 11-year-old George and 23-year-old Bradley - were stunned by the find. "George is a bit of a magpie and wants to keep the coin. He thinks it's cool. I'll have to think about it," the woman added.

A similar gold coin from the reign of Henry VII, albeit in slightly better condition, sold at auction last December for £2,600. That was also the estimated value of the newly found coin.

The gold sovereign was found by a metal detectorist a year ago in February by Sean Sandercock. During an organised search in the south-west of England. The specific location has not been revealed for security reasons. He planned to use the money to pay for a family vacation. The value of the recovered coin was originally estimated at £2,000. "I felt I had hit the jackpot. On social media, people from across the UK commented on the news of the rare coin's discovery. Everyone wanted to know about it," said the prospector.

Sources: www.dailymail.co.uk, https://readsector.com/