A reward will be given to anyone who found this coin. You will be given at least £500 reward if you can find this gold coin but not by me of course. A news reported by BBC says that a US tourist has offered a £500 reward for the return of a 500-year-old gold coin, which was stolen from a house in Kent. Hal McGirt, from South Carolina, found a Henry VII gold "angel" coin, dating from 1490, in fields while he was on holiday in Norfolk in August 2009. Hal McGirt said the coin was the best object he had ever found. He gave it to a friend who lives in Sittingbourne for safe keeping while an export licence was being sought but thieves burgled his home on 9 March. Mr McGirt said he was desperate to get the coin back.
Photo by BBC News: Henry VII angel coin.
"I have been metal detecting regularly in the UK since 1994 with mixed results." stated McGirt.
"When I uncovered the Henry VII angel last year, it was the best object I had ever found. I am very disappointed that I will not get to see it."
"There is only a long shot that the coin will be in the condition in which I found it. However, if it is, I am willing to pay £500 for its return."
An Angel is a gold coin, first used in France (where it was also known as an Angelot and an Ange) in 1340, and introduced into England by Edward IV in 1465 as a new issue of the "noble" and so at first called the "angel-noble". It varied in value between that period and the time of Charles I, when it was last coined (1642) from 6s. 8d. to 11s. The name was derived from the representation it bore of St. Michael and the dragon. The angel was the coin given to those who came to be touched for the disease known as king's evil; after it was no longer coined, medals, called touch-pieces, with the same device, were given instead.
Obverse: Depicts the archangel St. Michael spearing the dragon of evil. Legend: EDWARD DI GRA REX ANGL Z FRANC meaning Edward by the grace of God King of England and France.
Reverse: Depicts a ship with arms and rays of sun at the masthead. Legend: PER CRUCEM TUAM SALVA NOS CHRISTE REDEMPTOR meaning Through thy cross save us, Christ Redeemer.
Source: BBC News, Wikipedia
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