Last September, a british treasure hunter found a gold coin, he thought that his discovery was just a small surprise, at most worth a pocket money, want to rush out, did not expect to post a photo on the Internet, was reminded by a kind person: old iron, this is a national treasure!
The treasure hunter hurried to a professional institution, and the gold coin was taken away by anonymous buyers for £648,000 ($873,000, 5.5 million RMB).
The treasure hunter, named Michael Mallory, lives in Devonshire in southwest England and found the gold coins in a small village called Hermioke. Michael was holding a metal detector and wandering aimlessly through the fields looking for surprises, hoping to find something valuable because his child had just been born and the milk powder money had not yet landed.
When the metal detector signaled, he immediately scooped out the gold coins, then picked up the phone and reported his findings to the Portable Antiquities Scheme. The programme is a voluntary exploration programme led by the British Government and the British Museum, encouraging citizens to search for British antiquities on their own.
The person who answered the phone was not very skilled, and after hearing Michael's description, he replied with training words: "Old iron, you keep things, and Daying thanks you for being such a warm-hearted person." ”
Markle was a little disappointed, thinking that his discovery was worthless, but fortunately he had more eyes, took a photo of the gold coin and posted it on the Internet, but he did not expect that a numismatist, Gregory Edmund, found the mystery and left him a message: Old iron, this is a national treasure! Don't stay!
Michael then pored over the gold coin: on the front there was a king holding a scepter engraved with the letters "H/ENRIC/REX III". On the reverse side is a long hollow cross, and in the four partitions separated by the cross, there are five rosettes and three small balls.
Numismatist George Edmund said the coin was minted in the time of Henry III and was a gold coin that actually flowed through and was worth 20 pence.
At that time, about 52,000 gold coins were minted, and as soon as they entered the market circulation, we found an interesting phenomenon: because the gold content of this gold coin is too high, the value of the gold coin itself is higher than the 20 pence it represents, in other words, you spend 20 pence for a gold coin, which is equivalent to earning 30 pence. People scrambled to collect, causing the gold coins to lose their circulation function.
Ten years later, Henry III bought back the coins for 24p each and immediately turned them into gold. Henry III was a "mediocre king" in British history, reigning for 56 years, and it is not surprising that he was able to do such a thing. Having learned the lesson of this coinage, Edward III, a descendant of Henry III, stopped minting money in gold and gave the "Wool Party" any chance, and there were no more gold coins in England.
Historically, Henry III's gold coins have basically been reduced to gold, and not many have survived, including the one discovered by Michael, there are currently only eight in the world, and each one is extremely precious.
A private collector, who did not want to be named, bought Michael's discovery for 648,000 pounds (5.5 million YUAN) and lent the gold coins to the museum permanently, which is equivalent to donating to the country.
Michael's experience also reminds us that we should not be in a hurry to do anything, otherwise we may miss the opportunity to change our destiny.