British Museum Buys medieval Coin for £350,000

If you've never had a chance to visit, its a fact that the British Museum has an absolutely fantastic and impressive collection of ancient and medieval coins. If you're a numismatic enthusiast, a visit can take hours and is well worth it. To add to the fun, Ed at hobbyblog and other numismatists can play "got it, got it, need it, need it" with the collection :-)

The British Museum just added to their collection by purchasing a gold coin of King Coenwulf of Mercia for £350,000.



Understand of course that it wasn't necessarily the free market price that this coin might have actually brought had it been sold in a free and open market:

A metal detector enthusiast found it next to the River Ivel in Bedfordshire in 2001, and it was later bought by a US collector.

When the owner put it up for sale last year, the Government put a temporary export ban in place hoping it would be saved for the nation.

This coin is both wonderfully rare and historic:

It is one of eight known gold coins - of which the museum now owns seven - which date back to the mid to late Saxon period.

Hat Tip: London News and Things of Muse.