Quarter angel of Elizabeth I

Peter Vernon sent in the images of this coin but the finder is one of his detecting colleagues. It  is a small hammered gold coin of Elizabeth I and Peter said he had never heard of a gold coin of this reign being found in the area it turned up in. Therefore, he assumed it would be very rare.

The coin is a quarter angel of Elizabeth I with mint mark eglantine on both sides, which dates it to 1574-78. It measures only 15mm in diameter but is shown greatly enlarged. It is well and centrally struck and there is even some metal outside the outer beaded circle. The grade of preservation could be described as a strong VF.

It must be really great to unearth a hammered gold coin in such wonderful condition. I can only imagine how elated the finder must have been. In 25 years of detecting I have never found a hammered gold coin.

Each year the Yorkshire Region holds a Find of the Year event. Clubs in the region enter showcases with various categories of finds. A few bears back I was staring at a hammered gold coin in a showcase when the chap next to me enquired if I liked it. I said it was a beautiful coin and asked if he knew who had found it. The chap told me he had unearthed it a few months previously and it was the seventh hammered gold coin he had found in a detecting career stretching back to the late 1960s. All had come off different sites and all had been found miles apart. The finder was probably no more skilled at detecting than I am but he was definitely luckier than I’ve ever been in terms of gold coin finds.

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