Latest news with #AdrianMarsden
BBC News
15-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
'Saddest story' for Northamptonshire owner who lost ring in 1600s
A gold posy ring discovered in a 17th Century token box was probably stored there for safekeeping only to be lost after all, making it the "saddest story", a coin expert small copper container, found at Dingley between Market Harborough and Corby, also held four trading tokens - a type of small change currency issued by merchants to keep the local economy Marsden said the box was only the 10th one to be found in the country, with all of them made by the same London manufacturer. The discovery offered "insight into the businesses of very ordinary people", said Northamptonshire's finds liaison officer Eleanore Cox. She said the detectorist who found it initially thought it was a Victorian or 20th Century door-knob and took it home for a wash."Thank goodness he did, because once it was clean it started rattling - and then out popped the ring."Dr Marsden, a numismatist from the Norfolk Historic Environment Service, said: "We all know how rings can get lost – they can slip off fingers that have shrunk ever so slightly in cold water."Yet, despite apparently tucking it away in the box for safekeeping, the owner still managed to lose it, making it "the saddest story of all", he said. Token or money boxes have a very sophisticated screw thread construction, which has led to them being misdated to the 19th Century, he was because screw threads "were hardly seen" before the 18th Century Industrial Revolution, when new technology made them easier to he said the Northamptonshire find was "incredibly similar" to nine others, "and now it very much looks like a workshop in London had the know-how to make these things for a brief period in the 1660s". Trading tokens were commissioned from the Tower of London mint, where the country's official coins were Cox said: "Tokens were pivotal to day-to-day life, used by people to buy bread and candles and clothes, and offer not only insights into the businesses, but about the very real difficulty of shopping when there is a lack of small denominations."I genuinely feel bad for whoever lost it [the box], and there must have been a bit of heartbreak when the ring was also lost."The discovery is going through a process where a coroner decides whether it can be classed as treasure. If so, a museum usually gets first refusal over whether to store it. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
A Metal Detectorist Found an Ancient Gold Coin That May Mark the Rise of Christianity
Here's what you'll learn when you read this story: A metal detectorist discovered a rare gold coin from the seventh century in an English field. The coin is the first schilling of its kind ever found and includes a depiction of a man dancing. The newly discovered shilling tested at about 60 percent gold content. A gold shilling located by a metal detectorist near Norwich may be no larger than a fingernail, but it wields quite a bit of history—and some distinct designs. The small gold coin discovered in the fall has led coin expert Adrian Marsden of the Norfolk Historic Environment Service to research the unique emblems marking the coin. He published his view on the find in The Searcher, highlighting that the coin is the first of its kind ever found. 'It's of a wholly new type, undoubtedly English—and East Anglian,' he wrote, adding that it's likely from the seventh century A.D., likely between 640 and 660 A.D., when Pagan beliefs were giving way to Christianity in Britain. Located in an area that has yielded other seventh-century coins, the decorated schilling is connected to a series of shillings Marsden has seen before. But this one is still in a class on its own, thanks in part to the design that packs plenty in a small space. 'The obverse of this one has a man, with a rather oversized head, performing what appears to be a jig with his legs crossed whilst placing a cross, held out in his left hand, over an odd design composed of three interlocked triangles,' Marsden wrote. He said the Christian elements with the cross are obvious, inspired by the standard depiction of Christian emperors of the late Roman empire. The interlinked triangles are better known as a valknut, he said, a pagan design that has an uncertain meaning. They could be associated with the Scandinavian god Odin, who helped bring the dead to the afterlife, but the expert calls that 'speculation,' since nobody is quite sure what the valknut—the word is a modern compound meaning knot of those fallen in battle—symbol really stands for. The other side includes a cross-like design enclosed by a border of small pellets. The questions surrounding the symbolism point to a time where both Pagan and Christian images were used, Marsden says. The unique design could be a form of a cross or even a swastika, which at the time was likely a good luck symbol. The coin also had a poor attempt at a Latin-style inscription that Marsden said really didn't amount to any language. The coin was tested for purity, and all results rendered it with a gold content of over 56 percent to over 60 percent, in line with a modern-day wedding ring, giving the coin a pure look that would have likely been uncommon in the seventh century. Under the nation's updated Treasure Act, the coin will likely be displayed at a museum, possibly the Norwich Castle Museum. 'I think that this shilling does stand at the head of an East Anglian Royal coinage that quickly—as the kingdom became Christian—got rid of the valknut and retained the cross,' Marsden surmised about the provenance. 'The new coin straddles two eras, the Pagan and the Christian.' You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
BBC News
08-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
One of a kind 7th Century Anglo-Saxon coin found in Norfolk field
A tiny gold coin which is believed to be the oldest from the Anglo-Saxons in East Anglia has been found in a expert Adrian Marsden described the coin as a "massively significant" find that was struck in the 7th design depicts a man dancing a jig while holding a Christian cross above a symbol linked to the Norse god coin was discovered by a metal detectorist near Norwich in the autumn and Norwich Castle Museum hopes to acquire it. "It's the first one of this type of coin that we've seen and new types of shillings just don't turn up," said Dr Marsden, from the Norfolk Historic Environment Service."It's got this fascinating iconography of a little figure with a long cross - explicitly Christian - over the valknut design, which has pagan roots."Dr Marsden said all the evidence pointed to it being "the earliest Anglo-Saxon East Anglian coin so far known", dating it to AD640 to was struck at a time when pagan beliefs were starting to give way to Christianity, and its design appears to straddle this time of change. Experts associate the design with the god Odin, whose roles in Norse mythology included ferrying the dead to the the 20th Century, the valknut was adopted as a symbol by white supremacists among coin dates back to the same era as the famous Sutton Hoo ship burial, which, as Dr Marsden explained, had a mix of Christian and pagan grave goods. On the reverse of the coin is a design that could be a cross or could be a swastika, then recognised as a good luck symbol, surrounded by an attempt at a Latin Marsden recently published his research in the Searcher."It's plain from looking at the letters that whoever made the die wasn't literate, the letters don't bear much resemblance to Latin - they're garbage really," he revealed the coin was made from a very high gold content, of up to 60%. Dr Marsden also pointed out it was the second coin in Norfolk to benefit from a new treasure definition on "the basis of national significance".The government changed the legal definition of the 1996 Treasure Act two years ago, to try getting more artefacts on public display.A coroner decides if a discovery is treasure and a museum usually gets first refusal over whether to store it. Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
