It’s been revealed that a gold coin, minted in Lincolnshire, that lay buried for 2,000 years before being unearthed by a metal detectorist is to shine in what is planned to be a major private collection of British coinage.

The coin is an extremely rare variant of a gold stater, produced around 50-10BC in the settlement of Old Sleaford at the mint of the Corieltavi, the Iron Age Celtic tribe that occupied most of the East Midlands including the whole of Lincolnshire in the first century BC.

The coin went for £3,300 when it went under the hammer in an online auction on Thursday (January 8), almost twice the amount that had been paid for the only other coin of its type ever found.

Coralie Thomson of auctioneers David Duggleby said: “The stater was a domino type, so called because of pellets (dots) that appear in a rectangular frame on the face of the coin. Corieltavi domino staters all had four pellets - or so everyone thought until a five-spot stater was found in Northamptonshire last year.”

Grace McLain of Dugglebys with the rare 2,000-year-old coin, minted in Sleaford and found by a detectorist in East Yorkshire. Photo: Newman Walker

placeholder image — Grace McLain of Dugglebys with the rare 2,000-year-old coin, minted in Sleaford and found by a detectorist in East Yorkshire. Photo: Newman Walker

“Quite why the Corieltavian minters – who were based at Sleaford in South Lincolnshire – added an extra pellet to some coins is still a matter of speculation but from a collecting point of view it’s a gamer changer, hugely increasing the value.”

Old Sleaford is known to be centred around the Boston Road area of the town.

Coralie added: “I could scarcely believe my eyes when the detectorist turned up at our saleroom with the five-spot stater that he had unearthed near the small East Yorkshire village of Lelley about seven miles from Hull.”

The Corieltavi controlled all of Lincolnshire right up to the south bank of the Humber, so the coin was found north of the river within the territory of the neighbouring Parisi tribe.

The small gold coin is expected to fetch between £2,000-4,000, say auctioneers, thanks to the fifth dot. Photo: David Duggleby

Coralie added: “The Northamptonshire coin made £1,750 when it was sold in an auction in Mayfair in November but our view was that even though the Lelley gold stater was the second to come up for auction it would do even better.”

It went into the timed online Coins, Banknotes and Stamps Auction at Scarborough with a pre-sale estimate of £2,000 - £4,000. With the sale attracting international collector and media interest, bidding soared past £2,000 days ahead of the auction. At the death it finally came down to a contest between two bidders, one in Northern Ireland and the other based in London, a private collector who won the day with a £200 increase in his bid - to £3,300 - in the last ten seconds of the auction.

The collector has opted to remain anonymous but he has revealed that he is in the early stages of creating what is intended to be a major collection of British coinage. The Lelley five-pellet domino stater is the oldest coin that he has acquired to date.

He said: “I really am delighted to own this wonderful find which I’m sure will always be star attraction in the collection.”

A close up of the gold stater showing its rare five dots. Photo: David Duggleby

As for how the Corieltavi gold ended up in East Yorkshire, Coralie said: “It’s tempting to think raiding, robbery and pillage but the Corieltavi and the Parisi were rather civilised tribes – at least by Iron Age standards – so trading seems a more likely probability.”