Coin

The silver eight-Reales coins struck in Mexico City in the 1530s are sometimes referred to as the ‘first dollar of the New World’.

Two suspects have been arrested in Massachusetts following a night-time break-in at the home of New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski.

One of seven known examples of ‘the first gold coin struck in the US’ – the 1787 New York Brasher Doubloon – has sold for more than $5m in a private deal.

Baldwin’s of St James’s set a new record for a British five pounds piece when a “good, extremely fine” example of the 1839 ‘Una and the Lion’ five pounds coin took £340,000.

Poor old Newark. A bit like Belgium and Poland over the centuries, in the English Civil War the English Midlands town ended up in the wrong place in wartime – stuck in the middle - as armies trampled back and forth across it or lay siege. The town’s misfortune is a coin collector’s gain, however, as the lozenge-shaped coins minted in Newark during the conflict have become familiar and fairly common visitors to the salerooms.

One of the earliest coins in American history is coming to auction at Spink in New York.

‘In God we trust’ goes the phrase. It had a double meaning when an American church sold a rare 19th century coin with a result no doubt causing more than a few hallelujahs.

The largest gold sovereign hoard ever found has been declared treasure but mystery surrounds the identity of the rightful heirs to the trove of gold coins.

King Richard III is the Marmite Monarch. You love him or you hate him. On one hand he is regarded as a monster, on the other as misunderstood and unfairly maligned.

Keep Calm and Carry On is the now famous instruction from the Second World War thanks to a plethora of copycat items inspired by the poster which was never officially issued.

The plastic fiver has become a familiar sight in the UK since it was issued last September and this summer the tenner version will follow. It seems unlikely that glass coins will also appear – but that was not the case in the US in 1942.

A rare European gold coin found by a dog-walker on a Cornish beach is to be auctioned in Penzance later this month.