The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 50, December 12, 2004, Article 7

INTERVIEW WITH FINDER OF COENWULF GOLD PENNY

  From an article published this week in The Comet:
  "The man who discovered the most expensive British coin 
  ever sold at auction has broken his silence.

  A confidentiality contract meant Alan Jane was not allowed 
  to talk to the press but he has now spoken up to tell of
  the moment he found the coin buried on Biggleswade Common 
  that was later to be auctioned for £230,000 - at first, he
  thought it was worthless.

  Mr Jane, 62, is a keen detectorist from Kempston. It was 
  his Biggleswade-born wife and mother-in-law who first 
  suggested he try the Common."

  "Mr. Jane said: "The coin registered very loud on the 
  detector.

  "I found a bronze Roman coin nearby but it was in a 
  terrible state and I thought maybe the coins had been
   dredged up from the river at one point and left.
  "I didn't know it was a valuable coin at first - it was
  in such good condition it looked like it had fallen out 
  of a Christmas cracker, I thought it couldn't be worth 
  anything."

  In fact, Mr Jane had unearthed the first Anglo-Saxon gold
  penny to be discovered for almost a century."
  "When May Sinclair of Spink looked at it she said that 
  she thought we might have something that was quite 
  important.

  "Then it was sent to the British Museum who investigated
  and tested it and they came back and said it was the real
  McCoy.

  "Of course then I had to keep things very quiet. It took 
  us over two years to find out who owned the Common and 
  sort everything out."

  To read the full story (which includes images of the 
  coin) see:  Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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