COINS OF LONG AGO

Taranaki Daily News, 26 August 1931, Page 3

COINS OF LONG AGO

CHRISTCHURCH BOY’S FIND. UNEARTHED BY DIGGING. An interesting collection of old coins was unearthed recently at Sumner., Christchurch. The find was made by the same lad who about « year ago found the cave at the top of the cliff on the face of Richmond Hill, where were discovered some Maori remains and specimens which are now in the Canterbury Museum.

The boy was playing near a stream when he found an old coin, and on digging round close by and washing the soil away he found several more, a total of sixteen. They were all within a foot or two and about two feet from the surface. f

Four countries’ coinages were represented, there being seven English, six French, two Italian, and one Indian. In date they varied from 1807 to 1874. There was a big, clumsy penny of George lll.’s reign, dated 1807, a silver pennyhalfpenny piece of 1835, stamped with William IV.’s head, two silver twopenny pieces of 1838, and two half-farthings—-of a year or two later. The other British coins w'ere an old farthing and'a very old Indian quarter-rupee, issued by the East India Company. On this coin the date is illegible. Italy’s struggle under Garibaldi and the establishment of freedom is commemorated on one of the coins, struck in 1857, while the other Italian coin, a five centcsima piece of 1862, shows a monarchy in power again under Victor Emmanuel 11. The French coins show the history of France from 1844, when Louis Philippe was Emperor, before the “coup d’etat” of 1848, then three coins of Napoleon 111., two five centimes pieces of 1854 and 1855, and a 50 centimes piece of 1864. France’s return to the Republic is shown on the two remaining coins, a ten centimes piece of 1872 and a five centimes piece of 1874. It is conjectured from the position where the coins were found and their variety that they belonged to some sailor from one of the ships which formerly went to the Heathcote jetty by way of the Sumner Bar.