Medieval Gold Coins Auctioned for $84,820
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LONDON — Ninety-nine medieval gold coins discovered by a farmer plowing a field were sold at auction for $84,820 on Tuesday, Christie’s auction house said.
Christie’s representative said the coins, minted between 1354 and 1433, were sold by Simon Drake, a 29-year-old farmer.
Drake found the first of the coins in May, 1983, while plowing a field at his farm in southwestern England.
Using a metal detector, he located 99 more coins along a nearby roadside, buried on land that may once have belonged to an abbey. He kept one as a souvenir and sold the rest.
Christie’s said the coins had a face value equivalent to what a medieval agricultural worker would have earned in 6 1/2 years.
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