An odd-looking coin used to pay for a bus fare in Leeds in the 1950s has been found to belong to an ancient civilization from more than 2,000 years ago, reported The Independent.
The coin, handed to a local bus driver decades ago, came into the hands of James Edwards, former chief cashier with Leeds City Transport, who gathered fares and counted them at the end of each day.
Since it couldn’t be spent, Edwards took it home and gifted the ancient coin to his young grandson, Peter, who kept it in a small wooden chest for more than 70 years.
Archaeologists from the University of Leeds have now found that it came from the Carthaginians, part of the Phoenician culture, in the Spanish city of Cadiz during the 1st century BC.
“My grandfather would come across coins which were not British and put them to one side, and when I went to his house, he would hand me a few,” the now 77-year-old grandson said.
“It was not long after the war, so I imagine soldiers returned with coins from countries they had been sent to. Neither of us were coin collectors, but we were fascinated by their origin and imagery – to me, they were treasure,” he said.
Peter attempted to uncover the coin’s origin, focusing on a particular inscription.
It bears the face of the god Melqart on one side, resembling the Greek hero Herakles and wearing his famed lionskin headdress.
Experts said it came from what was once a Carthaginian settlement on the Spanish coast.
“The coin always fascinated me because it was hard to decipher where it came from,” Peter said.
“My first thought when I found out its origin was that I would like to return it to an institute where it could be studied by all, and Leeds Museums and Galleries kindly offered to give it a good home,” he said.
The coin has been donated to Leeds Museums and Galleries and is now part of the Leeds Discovery Centre, which includes coins and currency from cultures around the world, spanning thousands of years of history.
“It’s incredible to imagine how this tiny piece of history created by an ancient civilization thousands of years ago has somehow made its way to Leeds and into our collection,” said Salma Arif, Leeds City Council’s executive member for adult social care, active lifestyles and culture.
“Museums like ours are not just about preserving objects, they’re also about telling stories like this one and inspiring visitors to think about the history that’s all around us, sometimes in the most unlikely of places,” Arif said.
