‘A day I’ll remember forever’ - Teen metal detectorist’s ancient coin sells for thousands
Reece Pickering, 17, out metal detecting with his father Jonny Crowe, 41, in Norfolk. Picture: Hansons. - Credit: Archant
A coin dating back to the Battle of Hastings found by a teen metal detectorist in Norfolk has sold for thousands of pounds at auction.
Auctioneer Charles Hanson during the auction which saw a thousand-year-old coin found in Norfolk sell for £4,000. Picture: Hansons. - Credit: Archant
Reece Pickering, from Great Yarmouth, was 16 when he discovered a rare Harold II silver penny from 1066 while out metal detecting with his father, Jonny Crowe, at Topcroft, a village near Bungay, in August.
The 954-year-old coin sold for £4,000 to a UK buyer when it went under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers on Monday (October 26).
Reece, a catering apprentice, said: “It was pretty special to find. I wasn’t expecting to come across such a scarce and remarkable coin. It’s a day I will remember forever. I can’t imagine finding something as special as this again. You just never know what’s beneath your feet.”
His father, a 41-year-old welder, said: “The coin, which has been recorded with the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, is the only one of its type known to exist.
Reece Pickering’s Harold II silver penny where he found it in Norfolk. Picture: Hansons Auctioneers. - Credit: Archant
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“The day Reece found it we were out metal detecting in a couple of farmers’ fields. We’d only come across rubbish. The next minute I heard Reece shouting and waving from the other side of the field.
“I went over and there he was with his find. He kicked the dirt away, picked up the coin and gave it a wipe. We knew it was special.”
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The father and son put the coin up for identification and it turned out to be a rare Cambridge mint Harold II penny.
Mr Crowe said: “Reece has just turned 17 but he was only 16 when he found it. He’s been metal detecting for a couple of years, in fact he introduced me to the hobby. He loves history.”
The Harold II silver penny found by Reece Pickering in Norfolk. Picture: Hansons Auctioneers. - Credit: Archant
Harold II was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon king of England. He reigned from January 6, 1066, until his death at the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066. He was fighting the Norman invaders led by William the Conqueror during the Norman conquest of England. His death marked the end of Anglo-Saxon rule over England.
The coins were sold in Hansons’ Auctioneers’ Historica, Coins, Banknotes and Antiquities auction held in Etwall, Derbyshire on October 26 and 27.
Teen metal detectorist Reece Hanson, from Great Yarmouth, who found a coin dating from the Battle of Hastings. Picture: Hansons. - Credit: Archant
