Canada, an English coin from 1422-1427 found on the island of Newfoundland

Important discovery in Canada, on the southern coast of theisland of Newfoundland, where what may be the oldest English coin currently known to have been found in an archaeological context in the North American country has been unearthed. The coin was found during the summer of 2022 by a citizen, Edward Hynes, who reported it to the government of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, as required by the Historic Resources Act. Consultations the provincial government had with scholar Paul Berry, former curator of the Bank of Canada’s Currency Museum, indicates that the coin, made of gold, is a noble quarter of Henry VI, minted in London between 1422 and 1427. It had the value of 1 shilling and 8 pence, a rather considerable sum for the time.

The discovery follows by a year a similar find in 2021, when a silver coin minted in 1490 was found at the Cupids Cove Plantation site, also on the island of Newfoundland: until now it was considered the oldest English coin ever found in Canada. We have no idea how the two coins, both the gold one found this summer and the one found in 2021, arrived in Newfoundland: at the moment it is very early to establish that Europeans had contact with these lands in advance of the arrival of the first European expedition (it was 1497 when Giovanni Caboto arrived, first, in Newfoundland: moreover, the island did not become part of the British Empire until 1583). By itself, in fact, the find is not enough to imagine a journey in the years when it was minted: it is likely, according to Paul Perry, that the coin was no longer legal tender when it was lost.

In any case, research on the coin continues and further investigations at the site of the find may be conducted in the future, the provincial government says. “I congratulate Mr. Hynes,” says Steve Crocker, the province’s minister of tourism, culture and the arts, “for recognizing the importance of protecting Newfoundland and Labrador’s heritage resources by reporting his discovery of this very rare object, and I encourage others to follow his example. These types of objects help us understand and appreciate the history of our province and provide context for those who visit Newfoundland and Labrador from around the world.”

Canada, an English coin from 1422-1427 found on the island of Newfoundland

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