Metal detectorist bags £10,500 at Suffolk auction house

Clare Auction, based in Clare, Suffolk’s smallest town, was founded by Robin Stone and Frank Harris in 2014. Since then the auction house has built a reputation for holding interesting auction sales with low charges, industry leading sale rates and high realised lot values.

One such unexpected lot came to Clare Auction through a metal detectorist, who is no doubt, now jumping for joy after realising £10,500 for a single coin. 

The coin, believed to be a very rare Alfred the Great silver penny dating from 871-899, depicts two seated figures below a dove. It was found by the metal detectorist with the permission of the land owner, who shares 50% of the sale value. You can view more images of the rare item here.

When the seller presented the coin, Robin Stone immediately knew it was something special despite the condition due to it being in the ground for over 1000 years, he advised that the vendor contacted the finds liaison officer. Researching and valuing the coin was not straight forward as there are so few examples and none has ever been found with the same markings. “After researching extensively, we advised the vendor that the coin should make £8,000 or more at auction, even though it was misshapen and not in perfect condition” said Robin Stone. 

The vendor, who wishes to remain anonymous, was delighted with the result, saying “Clare Auction was friendly and helpful from the moment I approached them. They advertised the coin internationally and built excitement about it before the sale, and they only charged me £6 in total with no selling commission. I will definitely be putting more coins for sale with them”. 

Robin Stone added “It is always a joy to see a real piece of history going to a collector who will cherish it for years to come and a pleasure to get such a good price for the vendor. We spend a lot of time and effort curating interesting sales and promoting individual lots. It is great to see the hard work pay off”.

Keep your eye on coins as they get consigned to our auctioneers by creating your account on the easyliveAuction platform.