One of England's first ever gold coins has been discovered on a farm in Devon - and it's expected to fetch up to half a million at auction.
The rare King Henry III coin, which is just under an inch in diameter but estimated to be worth at least £400,000, was minted in about 1257 by William of Gloucester with gold imported from North Africa.
It was found by a gold detectorist on his first work outing in a decade in Hemyock, Devon last September.
The founder was unaware of its rarity until he posted a picture on Facebook and it was spotted by a specialist. In theory, he is entitled to keep it because it is not part of a larger discovery.
Numismatists say it features the first portrait of a king upon the English throne since the time of William the Conqueror, who ruled from 1066 to 1087. Just eight of the coins are known to exist, almost all of them in museums.
The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: "The coin was found in an unappealing field and could quite easily never have been recovered. I feel I have to apologise to all those other detectorists who search and dream."
The "Henry III gold penny" will now be auctioned on Sunday by the Spink & Son auction house in London.
Henry III was king of England from 1216 until his death in 1272. In the 1240s and 1250s he demanded that all payments be made in gold to build up treasures for overseas projects. It was the first time the economy had not relied on silver coins since the dark ages.
Gregory Edmund, an auctioneer and senior numismatist with Spink & Son, said: "Not only was the advent of a brand new gold coinage seismic in the domestic medieval landscape, but it also shows the direct influence on daily life of the international trade routes from the gold and spice rich Middle East and North Africa."
He added that the coin, which shows Henry as Edward the Confessor, demonstrates a "groundbreaking shift from the depictions of a king restrained by the stipulations of Magna Carta to his own personification as England's original patron saint".
Think you may be sitting on a fortune? See our guide on rare 50p coins and valuable money, here.
