Sixpence, 1605

At last, in the last few days of 2006, I found my first-ever coin of James 1st. Tough detecting, too - it was minus two degrees C the whole time I was in the field, in dense fog, with a thick coating of frost on everything except me. The only good thing about detecting in those conditions is that it's really easy to see where you've already detected. Frost kept piling up on the detector head, weighing it down, and I had to stop and kick it off every minute or so.

Not a bad coin, either. Spink 2657, 3rd bust, rose mm.


Back to top

Halfgroat (1604-19) and Irish sixpence (1605-07)

In March 2007 I found two more James 1st coins in the field adjacent to where I found my first. This top coin of this pair is a halfgroat from the 2nd coinage, and is English - Spink 2659. The coin shown below is Irish, hence the harp. These both came from a slight mound which appears to have been a settlement site from the late 1400s to the time of James, though one or two earlier (Edward I) coins have also been found here.

Back to top