South Poorton: Historical coins found under floor sell for £60,000

Robert and Becky Fooks found the coins under the floor of their new cottage

A hoard of historical coins that was unearthed during renovation work on a cottage has sold at auction for double the top estimated value.

The cache of more than 1,000 gold and silver coins, dating back to the 16th and 17th Centuries, was found buried under a floor at South Poorton, Dorset.

The collection fetched £60,000 at Duke's Auctions in Dorchester.

Cottage owners Robert and Becky Fooks, who found the trove, said the money would help to pay off their mortgage.

Auctioneers hoped to sell the collection for between £15,000 and £30,000

Mr Fooks was digging with a pickaxe by torchlight when he found the coins in a pottery bowl buried in a bare earth floor.

His wife said he characteristically carried on working, leaving her to examine them the next day.

She said she realised they were valuable when she saw gold coins with clearly legible dates.

The hoard was found in a pottery bowl buried in a bare earth floor

The hoard, discovered in October 2019, was returned to the couple this year after expert analysis and legal work.

The British Museum has speculated they were deposited early in the English Civil War (1642-51) by a landowner trying to keep his wealth safe.

Top price at Tuesday's auction was fetched by a Charles I gold crown, initially valued at up to £2,000, which sold for £5,000 ($6,000).

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