Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
The pensioner who had secret £75k collection of rare coins
Extraordinary haul discovered after executors cleared out mobile home
A pensioner living on a city caravan park had a secret stash of rare coins worth £75,000, it has been discovered.
John Cross, 72, died with few knowing of his extraordinary collection, which has been described by experts as among the most important of its kind outside any UK museum.
It was only discovered when executors cleared out his mobile home and found documents linked to the Anglo Saxon haul.
The 80 coins - one worth as much as £12,000 - were so valuable that Mr Cross had held them in a bank vault for safekeeping.
He amassed the collection over a 20 to 30-year period, with many of the coins having connections to Canterbury, including a silver penny minted for the Archbishop and dating from 765792. It is estimated to be worth between £2,000 and 2,500.
Another - valued at £2,000 depicts Cuthred, King of Kent, on a portrait silver penny dated from 798-807.
But the most valuable is an extremely rare gold shilling almost 1,400 years old - which is thought to be worth as much as £12,000.
The entire collection will now be sold at auction in separate lots and is expected to fetch in the region of £75,000.
Canterbury Auction Galleries is hosting the three-day sale online from October 8.
The proceeds will go to The British Numismatic Society and Friends of Kent Churches, as Mr Cross wished.
A spokesman for the executors gave an insight into the enthusiast’s incredible collection.
“On inspecting the gentleman’s personal items, it appears he was very much into researching Anglo Saxon and medieval history and had quietly amassed a sizeable collection,” he said.
“He had a particular fascination for coinage from the period and he was also interested in early buildings and churches.
“He attended lectures and even held a certificate in archaeological excavation, for which
A silver penny minted for the Archbishop of Canterbury dating from 765-792
he qualified back in 2010 when he was in his 60s.”
Mr Cross’s hoard includes many silver pennies, including one from 1066 - a date familiar in schoolboy English history lessons - which is a silver penny minted for King Harold II, who was killed at the Battle of Hastings. It has a guide price
of £1,500-£2,000.
Another gold shilling, worth between £8,000 and £10,000, dates back to 635-645 and shows the emperor with a diademed bust. Others in the collection are of less value, with estimates starting at £200.
Visit www.canterburyauctiongalleries.com.