A collection of 35 gold coins or staters that were discovered during a rally in Kent in August2022, along with nine fragments of a flint nodule, that has been reconstructed, are expected tofetch an estimated £20,000 when offered by Noonans Mayfair on Wednesday, September 18,2024.

As Nigel Mills, Coins and artefacts Specialist at Noonans explained: "It was Friday, August 26th2022, the opening morning of the Joan Allen Detecting Rally - a regular event in Kent, thatTony Asquith, along with many other detectorists were hoping to find something of interest!"

He continued: "Using his Minelab Equinox 800, Tony at first just found some wire and a shotguncartridge. But then, he got a signal which revealed a brownish coin. He was surprised torecognise this as a Celtic stater. On looking down he saw what looked like a pile of chocolatebuttons laid out. Putting on his glasses, Tony realised that they were all Celtic staters!

Tony, who is retired and has been detecting for over 45 years, said: "It was amazing! The recentploughing of the field must have brought the nodule to the surface, and broke it open, scatteringits contents of coins."

Mr Mills added: "The staters date to around 55BC after Julius Caesar had conquered Gaul andattempted to invade Britain. They all have a shallow domed obverse with a dished reverse thatdisplays an abstract or devolved horse galloping to the right with a charioteer's arm above. Thecoins were concealed within the flint nodule which was formed 90-70 million years ago. Thehollow interior would originally have contained mud and the decayed remains of marineanimals. 10 other hoards of Iron Age gold coins contained in flint nodules have been found inBritain, but all of them are in museums"

For more information, see:
https://www.noonans.co.uk/