'Rare' gold Edward III coin found at Reepham could sell for £140k

An "extremely rare and important" Edward III leopard gold coin found by a metal detectorist is expected to fetch up to £140,000 at auction.

The 23-carat coin was discovered near Reepham in Norfolk, in 2019. It was declared treasure by a Norfolk coroner.

It was minted at the Tower of London in January 1344, but was only in circulation for seven months before it was withdrawn. There are few survivors.

The coin will be sold at auction by Dix Noonan Webb in March.

The coin features a leopard sitting upright and wearing a banner

Edward III introduced the first gold coins in England since the Anglo-Saxon era.

Nigel Mills, consultant in artefacts and antiquities at Dix Noonan Webb, said the king wanted to "facilitate trade with our European counterparts" who had already issued gold coins.

The first coins he introduced - including this leopard - were withdrawn almost immediately.

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Mr Mills said this was due to advice given by Italian Florentine bankers, who were the foreign exchange dealers of the time.

They overvalued them in relation to silver because they were "the people with most to lose with the establishment of a successful English gold and silver coinage", he said.

The coins show little sign of wear and tear when the detectorist unearthed them during a rally

As a result, only three double-leopards, five leopards and five helms minted between January and July 1344 are known to have survived, which is why the auctioneer has described the find as "extremely rare and important".

Mr Mills said: "This is by far the finer of the two known specimens that have come to auction.

"The other three were all sold at auction before 1960 and two are now in the British Museum, and the third is at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford."

The leopard - which had never been found with another coin - was discovered with another "rare" gold coin, a 1351-52 Edward III Noble.

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