Our renovation was a real money pit...
Couple find £35,000 hoard of coins buried under their concrete floor
A COUPLE renovating the kitchen of a 17th- century cottage were stunned when they found a coin hoard worth £35,000 under the floor.
Betty and Robert Fooks had recently bought the property when they began removing the kitchen’s concrete floor to create more height in the room.
Mr Fooks dug down 2ft with a pickaxe and was continuing the work by torchlight late one evening when he unearthed a smashed glazed pottery bowl, full to the brim with 400-yearold coins.
The agricultural engineer counted out 1,029 coins, which included gold King James I and King Charles I examples.
The hoard is believed to have been buried in the west Dorset home between 1642 and 1644 during the English Civil War for safekeeping.
The couple reported the discovery to the local ocal finds liaison officer er and the coins were e then sent to the British Museum for cleaning and identification.
The treasures are now coming up for sale at Duke’s auctioneers of Dorchester, Dorset.
Mrs Fooks, an NHS health visitor, 43, said: ‘It is a 400-year-old house so there was lots of work to do.
‘We were taking all the floors and ceilings out and took it back to its stone walls. We decided to lower the ground floor to give us more ceiling height.
‘ One evening, I was with the children [ in a different house] h and my husband b was digging with a pickaxe when he called to say that he had found something. ‘ He put all the coins co in a bucket and an brought them home hom to me. If we hadn’t lowered the floor they would still be hidden there. It is amazing and fascinating.’
The collection of coins, which was discovered in October 2019, also included Elizabeth I, Philip and Mary silver shillings and sixpences.
The most valuable coins are a James I gold laurel coin (1621-23) and Charles I gold unite coin (1626-27), pictured left, which are both expected to fetch £2,000.
The find has been split into almost 100 lots by Duke’s.
Julian Smith, a specialist at the auction house, said the coins had been buried in bare earth at the cottage. The auction will take place on Tuesday.