A LUCKY treasure hunter, who is just months away from getting married, is set for a £5,000 windfall after he discovered a rare coin in afield near Stockbridge.

The soon-to-be bridegroom, who did not want to be named, uncovered the 1,200 year-old Anglo-Saxon penny while out and about with a metal detector.

The coin is said to be from the reign of the Mercian King Offa and is one of only two known survivors of its type.

Now the lucky 24-year-old builder, who gets married in July, could stand to gain a £5,000 pay-out from the discovery when it is auctioned in London on June 8.

The man, a builder who has been metal detecting since he was 13 years old, decided to search the field near Stockbridge.

He gained the consent of the landowner prior to the search and he will split half of the estimated £10,000 that the coin is expected to fetch at auction.

He added: "I had only been there a short time. About five minutes after I started I found a hammered coin and then two minutes later I discovered this one.

"I knew it was scarce because it had King Offa's name on it but I didn't know how rare it was."

Further research revealed that not only was the penny from the reign of Offa, who ruled the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia from 757 to 796, but it was made by the East Anglian moneyer Botred, whose coins for Offa are notably rare.

Only one other Offa penny by Botred is known to exist and that is in the collection of the British Museum and so will never be available to collectors.

Head of the coin department at Dix Noonan Webb, Christopher Webb said:"This is a truly remarkable find.

To read the complete article, see:
Saxon penny from the reign of Mercian King Offa in fields near Stockbridge (www.andoveradvertiser.co.uk/news/14511049.Lucky_builder_set_
for___5_000_pay_out_after_discovering_rare_coin_
in_a_field_near_Stockbridge/)

To read the complete lot description, see:
BRITISH COINS, Kings of Mercia, Offa (757-96), Penny, (www.dnw.co.uk/auctions/catalogue/lot.php?auction_id=434&lot_id=2046)