Darlington metal detectorist finds rare King Charles I coin

Mark McMullan, 50, has been making remarkable finds around the town for three years but this is one of his favourite finds yet.

On one of the rare sunny days in Darlington he decided to take his metal detector and enjoy some time away from his stressful job as an investment director.

He has permission from farmers around the town to search on their fields and after two fruitless searches of one field near Manfield he struck lucky.

Within his first hour there he pulled out the Charles I coin from the dirt.

Mark said: "It was a rare nice sunny day. I thought I would get myself out for a couple of hours metal detecting.

"I decided to go and try one of my usual haunts, it was near Manfield. 

"I found it pretty much straight away. I found nothing else for the rest of my time there.

"You can do that, spend a whole day searching and get absolutely nothing.

"It's lovely when you find something like that. I knew roughly when it dated back to.

"That's the first Charles I coin that I have ever found. They are quite rare now."

Mark took the time to translate writing on the coin and post a bit of background on King Charles I on his social media page.

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He added: "For those with eagle eyes you may see the kings head facing left surrounded by the lettering CAR · D · G · SCOT · ANG · FR · & · HIB · R · (Latin which translates to: Charles, by the grace of God, King of Scotland, England, France and Ireland).

"The reverse shows a crowned thistle with the script: IVSTITIA · THRONVM · FIRMAT (Justice strengthens the throne)."

You can follow more of Mark's finds on his Facebook page - The History Hunter.