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Thursday, 29 June 2006, 16:56 GMT 17:56 UK

Rare coin breaks auction record

The Edward III double florin A buyer has paid £460,000 at auction for a rare medieval gold coin which has broken the record for a British coin.

The Edward III double florin, known as a double leopard and with a face value of six shillings, was circulated from December 1343 until July 1344.

It is only the third known surviving coin, with two others found in the River Tyne in 1857.

The price paid at Spink auction house, which included buyer's premium, was three times the estimate of £150,000.

Edward III double florin


"We knew that there would be a huge interest, but this surpassed all of our expectations," said Jeremy Cheek, head of Spink Coin Auctions.

The coin was bought by dealer Ian Goldbart, managing director of AH Baldwin and Sons, for Avarae Global Coins, a global coin fund.

The coin - the first large gold one in England after centuries of silver ones - was found in February by a metal-detecting enthusiast in the south of England.

The location is not being revealed to prevent an influx of other detectors.




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Related to this story:
Greece gets rare Roman coin back (26 Jun 06 |  Europe )
Watching the detectorists (03 May 06 |  Magazine )
Battle over rare gold eagle coins (27 Aug 05 |  Americas )
$1m silver dollar unearthed in US (03 Mar 04 |  Americas )
Ancient forger's coin die found (16 Aug 03 |  Hampshire/Dorset )
Rare Roman coin goes on show (04 Feb 03 |  England )

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