Essex: Anglo-Saxon pennies fetch more than £325k at auction

The Anglo-Saxon coins were auctioned in London

A collection of Anglo-Saxon pennies found by two metal detectorists have been sold for £325,560 at an auction.

Before the auction took place, the estimated price for some of the coins was around £180,000.

The 122 coins, which were discovered in 2019 near Braintree, Essex, were believed to have been buried in 1066, the year of Battle of Hastings.

The auction took place on 21 February and the money was shared between the finders and the landowner.

The landowners attended the sale and afterwards said: "We are delighted with the results which is a life-changing amount of money for the finders."

The auction took place at Noonans Mayfair in London. A spokesperson for the auction house said the owner of the pennies could have died in battle.

• Rare Celtic coin found in field sells for £4,400

Bradley Hopper, a coin specialist, said an "extremely rare" Harold II penny from the Guildford moneyer Leofwold was part of the collection, and was given a guide price of £4,000 to £5,000.

The penny, which was minted in Huntington, was sold for £11,000.

Sixteen of the coins were bought by Colchester Museum and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, including two 11th century Byzantine coins.