A gold coin recently discovered along the Canadian coastline by a metal detector may be the oldest English coin ever found in the country. Its discovery may call into question the commonly accepted timeline of European exploration of the continent. The coin, which is warped and intricately embossed, was found in the summer of 2022, according to a Nov. 9 news release from the government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Edward Hines was scanning the coast of Newfoundland, Canada’s easternmost province, with his metal detector when he heard an “exciting” beep, according to Saltwire. Then he dug a hole five inches deep and dug out the shiny piece. “It was so bright yellow and very thin, and I didn’t think it was a gold coin. I was thinking it was almost like a tag from something or a button, or something like that,” he told the outlet. Hines later reported his hoard to the government, according to the release, and a coin expert determined the coin was a noble of Henry VI’s quarter. It was minted in London sometime between 1422 and 1427, making it more than three times older than the nation of Canada, which was founded in 1867. How the coin made the 2,000-plus mile journey from the old world to the new, experts aren’t sure, though they say it was probably not in circulation when it was lost. A silver coin produced in Canterbury, England, in the 1490s was found in the same province last year and was declared the oldest English coin ever discovered in Canada — and possibly in all of North America, according to a government release. John Cabot, an Italian explorer, is credited with being the first European to travel to Newfoundland in 1497, according to the Royal Museums of Greenwich. However, the discovery of the Henry VI noble quarter, cut in the 1420s, in addition to unconfirmed testimonies and new research, could challenge Cabot’s achievement. According to a popular legend, Irish monks, led by Saint Brendan, sailed to Newfoundland in the 6th century AD. And a 2021 study published in Nature revealed evidence that Vikings were living in Newfoundland in 1021 AD. “There is some knowledge of a European presence before the 16th century here for a while, you know, excluding the Norwegians and so on,” provincial archaeologist Jamie Brake told the CBC. “The possibility of an occupation before the 16th century would be quite surprising and very important in this part of the world.”
