Coin found in Gwynedd house clearance sells for over £100,000

An "extremely rare" Victorian coin has been sold for £110,000 at auction after being discovered during a house clearance in Gwynedd.

It reached the six figure sum after it went under the hammer at an auction in Chester on Thursday 9 April.

The auction company, Rogers Jones, estimated that only 300 - 500 of these coins had been produced with the auction generating "worldwide interest".

Charles Hampshire, who is a jewellery, coins and watches specialist said the coins unusual discovery location was like "discovering a diamond in hiding"

When originally created the coins were not for general circulation and and have remained "incredibly scarce" for two decades seen mostly in "high end collector sets".

The coin was originally designed in 1839 to commemorate the anniversary of the monarchs crowning and made history as the first time a person or monarch had been featured on a coin as a fictional character.

Named 'Una and the Lion,' the keepsake designed by the Royal Mint’s chief engraver at the time, William Wyon and the design is regarded as his "crowning achievement".

It features an engraving of a young Queen Victoria on one side, while the other side depicts her as the character 'Una' from Edmund Spenser’s poem 'The Faerie Queene'.

The design shows her guiding a lion, said to symbolize "her poise and the strength of the British nation under her leadership".

The mix of history, culture and art in the coins story is, according to auctioneers what makes it "a "holy grail" for numismatists".

The auction company described the unique design as reflecting the "optimism and energy of its period.” calling it a "real work of art in its own right".

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