A home project turned out to be pretty profitable for a British couple in North Yorkshire, England. In 2019, after living in the home for about 10 years, they decided to rip up the kitchen floorboards in their 18th-century townhouse. They hit what they thought was an electrical cable beneath the concrete. Instead, it was a pile of gold coins packed inside a salt-glazed earthenware cup about the size of a soda can. In October, the rare coins were sold at auction for $852,380. The 264 gold coins dated from 1610 to 1727. They belonged to the Fernley-Maisters, a family involved in Baltic trading. Joseph Fernley and Sarah Maister married in 1694 and lived in the house. Joseph died in 1725, at age 76, and Sarah died at age 80 in 1745, with the “family line dying out soon after,” according to the auction house Spink & Son. The collection is considered “one of the largest hoards of 18th-century English gold coins ever found in Britain,” according to the BBC.

gold coin hoard found in jar under kitchen floor ellerby area england

Photo: Spink and Son

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