Now the harvest is underway up north I can get out for a walk with the metal detector in the evening. I am lucky to live on a historic rural estate and I have permission from the landowner to detect.
This is a coin that popped up last night. It was only about 2 inches deep and had been tumbling around in the plough soil for the last 750 years.
It is a silver penny of King Henry III. He was son of King John (Magna Carta) and father of Edward I. He had a difficult and contentious reign with constant power struggles. He became king aged just nine.
The obverse shows the king wearing a crown and holding a sceptre in his chubby right hand. The inscription reads HENRICUS REX III.
The reverse is a voided long cross with three pellets in each quadrant. The legend reads DAVI ON LVNDEN meaning the coin was minted by David of London. It dates from around 1256. The coin is about 18mm in diameter. Pennies were the only denomination available in that period. If you wanted to spend half a penny you literally cut it in half (or quarter) along the cross. Most ordinary people would never use coinage at all.
Although most of what I find has little value it is a real buzz to hold something that nobody has seen for more than 7 centuries.
