Canada’s oldest English coin found during archeological dig in Newfoundland
CUPIDS, N.L. –
An archeologist in japanese Newfoundland says his workforce has unearthed what might be the oldest English coin ever present in Canada.
William Gilbert, head archeologist on the Cupids Cove Plantation Provincial Historic Website, says the small silver coin was minted someday between 1493 and 1499.
Often known as a Henry VII ‘half groat,’ or twopenny piece, the nickel-sized coin was minted in Canterbury, England, greater than 500 years in the past.
Gilbert says he got here to that conclusion after consulting with Paul Berry, former curator of the Financial institution of Canada’s Forex Museum.
In 2001, an Elizabethan coin — dated 1560-1561 — was discovered on the similar website in Newfoundland, and on the time it was thought of the oldest English coin ever present in Canada.
Settled in 1610 by Bristol service provider John Man, the plantation is the positioning of one of many earliest English settlements in North America.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Nov. 10, 2021.