A bag of apparently brass coins found in the back of a drawer and brought for valuation turned out to be a haul of gold sovereigns worth thousands of pounds.
The coins were presented as an after-thought by an elderly lady looking to find out how much she might get for a small amount of jewellery.
She had taken the items to be priced onboard JP Humbert Auctioneers’ valuation bus in St Albans city centre, and only presented the bag of coins when she was about to leave.
Auctioneer Jonathan Humbert immediately recognised them as 22 carat gold sovereigns: ‘When I told the lady what the coins were, she really couldn’t believe it and said that they felt like a gift from her late husband, from beyond the grave.
“Apparently she never knew of the coins’ existence until she was clearing out the chest of drawers prior to moving into a residential home for the elderly. Her late husband must have put them there some years ago.”
Having valued the 30 coins at around £200 each, the elderly lady entered them for auction where they made more than £6,000.
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