The toffee tin was full of 'all manner of interesting sorts of knick-knacks' including other coins, little bits of jewellery, carved stone and fossils that had to be gone through
An incredibly rare American coin from 1776, the year of the Declaration of Independence, has been sold for £25,000 after being discovered in a toffee tin. The Continental Dollar, made of pewter and measuring 38mm across, is believed to be one of only around 100 remaining from an original minting of approximately 6,000.
Due to its rarity and the prevalence of fakes, the coin was sent to the United States for verification before being auctioned off by Wotton Auction Rooms in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire. Auctioneer Joseph Trinder described the find as one of the top five discoveries of his career, explaining that the valuable coin was found among various knick-knacks in a large toffee tin brought in by a private vendor.
He said: "We discovered it in a large toffee tin a private vendor brought to us, full of all manner of interesting sorts of knick-knacks - other coins, little bits of jewellery, carved stone and fossils. "We had a jolly good look through and made sure we got to the bottom of everything inside.''There were some really interesting pieces like gold coins and some other valuable items, but, languishing at the bottom of this tin of treasures we found this amazing Continental Dollar coin."
The coin was transported back to America for its authenticity to be verified by coin grading experts the Numismatic Guaranty Company due to its potential value, reports Bristol Live.
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