Tudor Garden Hoard

A hoard of Tudor coins worth at least £230,000 (US$310,000) that a couple found while tending their garden in Hampshire, England, will be offered at auction next month. During the COVID-19 lockdown in April 2020, the couple noticed some “strange circular discs” buried in clay soil. Their teenage son washed the dirt off of them and realized they were gold and silver coins dating back to Henry VIII’s reign (1509-47). 

A further excavation revealed 70 coins in total, some as old as the 1420s during King Henry VI’s time. However, most are from the 1530s. Some even bear the initials of two of Henry VIII’s wives, Catherine of Aragon and Jane Seymour. The coins’ combined face value is 26 pounds, 5 shillings, and 5 1/2 pence. David Guest, rare-coin expert and founder of David Guest Numismatics in London, said the person who buried them must have been a very wealthy individual, as it cost about £25 to buy a house in a rural area of England in the 1530s.

The pieces were examined by the British Museum and valued by the Treasure Valuation Committee, then returned to the couple in 2023, as no museum was in a position to acquire the assemblage. All 70 coins will be sold at auction in Zurich, Switzerland, on November 5, and the proceeds will go to the couple, who wish to remain anonymous. Guest predicts the coins will exceed their initial estimate at auction due to their excellent condition. “We all dream of finding something worth money in our gardens,” he says, “but they really hit the jackpot.”