An 18th-century gold coin valued at about £250,000 ($304,025 USD) has been found in a child’s pirate treasure collection.
As a child, the anonymous owner had been handed the rare Queen Anne Vigo five guinea piece by his grandfather.
He kept it in his toy box for pirate games with no inkling of its value, until it was stored away and forgotten about.
However, he rediscovered the coin and gave it to his own son to play with when his grandad died. It was in his sons possession until experts told him it was one of 20 coins made of gold. These were taken from Spanish treasure ships in Vigo Bay, Spain, in 1702.
“My grandad travelled all over the world during his working life and collected many coins from the various countries he had been to,” the man said.
He said that his grand dad gave him bags of coins to play with during his early years. His grandfather knew he was into pirate treasure.
The coins were stored into boxes and bags and were forgotten until he rediscovered them following his grand dads death.
The man looked back at the coins, recalling the stories he made up about them when he was little. He then gave the coins to his own son to play with and put into his own treasure box. His son has been playing with it as he did all those years ago.
After suspecting the coin might be worth something, the man from Bishop’s Stortford, Essex eventually brought it to experts.
Since the coin was one of fewer than 15 known examples, Gregory Tong of Boningtons auctioneers, immediately recognized its value.
The coin is expected to draw up to £250,000 at auction next month.
The coins were made out of treasure seized by the British fleet. They were discovered in 1703 as part of a propaganda campaign to take away attention from the British failure at Cadiz the previous year.
The treasure was transferred through London and accepted at the Royal Mint by then Master of the Mint, Sir Isaac Newton.
The post Gold Coin Worth £250,000 Discovered In Child’s Pirate Treasure Box appeared first on Newsline.
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