Grandad’s gold coins could make £50,000! (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Grandad’s gold coins could make £50,000!

10:47am Thursday 21st May 2009

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A HOARD of gold coins unearthed by a builder in Chipping Norton 30 years ago is expected to attract bids of more than £50,000 at auction.

The 400-year-old coins were discovered by the man when he was digging foundations for a block of flats.

He gave the 59 gold ‘unites’ to his 10-year-old grandson and for many years the coins have been kept in a shoe box along with other childhood treasures, including seashells, marbles and stamps.

Now the anonymous man, aged 39 and married with two children, has been through the legal process to secure permission to sell 57 of the coins. Two of the rarest in the collection have been bought to be displayed by the British Museum.

Each of the coins, known as ‘jacobuses’, were minted after James VI of Scotland became the first Stuart king of England in 1603.

The coins are set to go under the hammer at Morton and Eden in London on Tuesday, June 9.

Auctioneer James Morton said the coins would have been minted in Scotland for circulation in the country and that at the time there were no banks to keep money, so burying the coins underground would have been the safest thing to do.

“Their first owner would have been a substantial, well-moneyed person, possibly a merchant or land owner,” he said.

Each coin will be sold individually with estimates dependent on condition and rarity. Bids are expected to range from £400 to £2,500.

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