76-Year-old Metal Detectorist Discovers Ultra-Rare Roman Coin After 6 Years of Searching in Farmer’s Field
A gold Roman coin believed to be the first of its kind ever found in Britain fetched thousands at auction after being unearthed by a devoted metal detectorist.
Ron Walters finally struck gold after six years of searching the same farmer’s field near Dudley, West Midlands, every spring and autumn when the crops weren’t sown.
The retired welder said he stumbled across the rare Roman coin, which dates back to 69AD, on a day when he was almost going to stay home.
“I was going to go one Thursday and decided against it. It was my wife who basically told me to ‘bugger off and get out the house for a bit’,” said the 76-year-old grandfather.
“I was glad I did. I was out for a couple of hours and I picked a signal up. I started digging a bit, but then I lost the signal.
“I managed to get this reading again from a clod of earth about 2ft away from me, I broke it open and then this coin dropped into my hand.”
It is believed to be the first gold aureus of emperor Aulus Vitellius to ever be recorded as a find in the British Isles.
“My heart was racing, I just popped it in my pocket and went straight back home.
“In metal detecting circles a Roman coin is probably among the best things you can find—that or Ancient English gold.
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“I can only imagine a soldier travelled with it, possibly via France.”
The 1,955-year-old coin was auctioned this week by Fieldings Auctioneers and fetched $6,000, which the Kingswinford man will split with the field’s landowner.
Mark Hannam, senior coin specialist at Fieldings said the coin was a genuinely amazing find and “a unique piece of history.”
“To find a coin from 69AD is incredibly rare, as most coins we find in this country are from the third and fourth centuries, and we are talking about a time when the gold was at its purest level.
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“The fact that this one has escaped ploughing in the ground for over 1,900 years and the coin is still in excellent condition is quite remarkable.”
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