You never know what you’ll find when renovating an old house. Case in point — a British couple that uncovered a stash of ancient gold coins.
ITV reports the couple, located in Ellerby, discovered the trove of rare coins when updating their kitchen. The anonymous renovators say they thought they hit an electrical cable when digging out the floor, but that cable turned out to be a cup — filled to the brim with gold coins.
In all, they counted 206 coins that range in date from the reign of James I, which started in 1566, to the end of George I‘s reign in 1727.
So — how much are these coins worth? The couple will find out when the lot hits the auction block later this year. Spink will oversee the sale and estimates the coins are valued at around $287,000.
Spink says the couple discovered the coins in 2019 and contacted their agency because of an English rule that decrees anyone who finds more than two coins over 300 years old must declare the find treasure and therefore property of the crown.
Since the youngest coin was 292 years old, the entire trove was ruled to be less than 300 — meaning the couple can cash in on their find.
For the history buffs: Historians believe the coins originally belonged to Joseph and Sarah Fernley-Maisters, who owned the home in 1694. If the names sound familiar, that’s because the Maisters were an important merchant family between the 16th and 18th centuries — and some Maisters were members of parliament.