A RARE coin made in Derby nearly a thousand years ago was sold at an auction this morning.
The silver penny, originating from the Anglo-Saxon period, fetched £3,000.
It was made in Derby by a coin maker named Leofwine between 1042 and 1066.
Experts said they expected the coin to sell for between £800 and £1,200.
It was bought up by a mystery buyer for three times that estimate when it went under the hammer at Spink & Son in Bloomsbury, London.
The penny was minted during the reign of Edward The Confessor shortly before the Battle of Hastings, making it a sought-after piece by collectors.
The coin was listed by Spinks as being in a pleasantly-toned condition, with clear markings.
The Derby-made coin was owned by the tenth Duke of Argyll until his death in 1949. The duke, nephew of Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Louise, thought the coin had been made in Dereham, Norfolk, but experts later confirmed that it was minted in Derby.
In Anglo-Saxon times the Derby mint was one of 50 or 60 across England. It is impossible to pinpoint an exact location in the city where the coin was made, as several moneyers may have had a licence to make coins in their own workshops.
