Hampshire couple find Tudor coins worth £230k while gardening

Tudor coins worth at least £230,000 found by a Hampshire couple while weeding their back garden are set to be sold at auction.

The couple found the “strange circular discs” buried in clay soil while adjusting fence posts at their home in Milford on Sea during lockdown on 6 April 2020.

Their teenage son washed them and realised they were gold and silver coins dating back to when Henry VIII was married to his third wife Jane Seymour in the 1530s.

Auctioneer David Guest said the 70 coins will now be sold at auction in Zurich, Switzerland, on 5 November.

The money will go to the couple, who wish to remain anonymous.

Some of the 70 coins date back to the reign of King Henry VI in the 1420s, but most are from the 1530s.

Some also bear the initials of two of Henry VIII’s wives, Catherine of Aragon and Jane Seymour.

The coins were thought to be worth about £26, five shillings and five-and-a-half pence at the time.

Mr Guest said the person who buried them must have been a “very wealthy individual” as house prices in rural areas during the 1530s were about £25.

“So it gives you an idea of what kind of money this was at the time,” he said.

After being examined by the British Museum, and valued by the Treasure Valuation Committee, the coins were returned to the couple in 2023 as no museum was in a position to acquire them.

Mr Guest said he precited the coins would “exceed their initial estimate quite considerably as they are in fantastic condition”.

“We all dream of finding something worth money in our gardens – but they really hit the jackpot,” he said.

“It’s been a wonderful treasure to handle and work with as there haven’t been many hoards that have gone this far back, so there’s a lot of history there.”