A 600-Year-Old Coin Was Found In Canada & No One Knows How It Got Here (PHOTOS)
It predates British exploration of North America. 💰
A Canadian penny. Right: The Newfoundland coast.
A gold coin was recently found on Newfoundland's coast and it may just be the oldest English coin found in Canada.
A recent archeological find this summer has uncovered a coin that's estimated to be around 600 years old. That's so old that it actually predates British and French contact in this area.
On November 9, the Newfoundland & Labrador government announced that the artifact was found on the province's southern coast.
What is the oldest coin found in Canada?
Minted between 1422 and 1427, the coin is called a King Henry VI Quarter Noble.
It was discovered during the summer of 2022 by Edward Hynes, who reported it to the Provincial Government under the Historic Resources Act.
In the 1400s, this coin would have cost one shilling and eight pence, pretty valuable for the time.
As per Global News, the artifact was found at an undisclosed archeological site that's still being "kept quiet" so as not to "attract treasure seekers" in the region.
\u201cAn exciting discovery on the south coast of the island of Newfoundland! This 600-year-old English gold coin may be the oldest ever found in Canada! Learn more here: https://t.co/lb5sao0gR9 #GovNL\u201d— Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation (@Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation) 1668005824
Things get even more interesting when you consider that European exploration of North America didn't really get going until the late 1400s, aside from some Viking contact on what is now Canada's Atlantic coast 1,000 years ago.
Given the age of the coin, experts believe it was likely not in circulation when it was lost, and that it could have been part of someone's own coin collection.
That being said, there really is no way to confirm how it got here. But, research into it has started.
This coin beats the previous record for the oldest English coin ever found in Canada, with the previous one being a silver one from the 1490s, also found in Newfoundland & Labrador in 2021.
Meanwhile, if you have a Canadian coin collection that's simply collecting dust, you might actually be sitting on a small fortune.
There are some Canadian coins out there that could be worth thousands of dollars, with some having been sold for over $100,000 – and those are ones that were minted in the 20th century!
Might just be worth rummaging through your change pouch real quick.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.