Coin used to pay for bus ticket in Leeds found to be 2,000 years old
Strange-looking money used to pay bus fares in Leeds in the 1950s has been revealed to belong to an ancient civilization dating back 2,000 years.
Money given to a local bus driver decades ago ended up in the hands of Leeds City Transport’s former chief cashier, James Edwards, who collected the fares and counted them at the end of each day.
Since it could not be spent, Mr Edwards took the ancient coin home and gifted it to his young grandson Peter, who kept it in a small wooden chest for more than 70 years.
Archaeologists from the University of Leeds discovered that it came from the Carthaginians, who were part of the Phoenician culture in Cadiz, Spain, in the 1st century BC.
“My grandfather would come across non-English coins and put them aside, and when I went to his house he would give me a few,” said his grandson, now 77.
“It wasn’t that long after the war, so I imagine soldiers returning from the countries they were sent to with coins. Neither of us were coin collectors, but we were fascinated by their origins and appearance; to me, they were treasures,” he said.
Peter attempted to uncover the origins of money by focusing on a specific scripture.
On one side is the face of the god Melqart, who resembles the Greek hero Herakles and wears his famous lion-skin headdress.
Experts say it comes from what was once the Carthaginian settlement on the coast of Spain.
“Money has always fascinated me because it was hard to figure out where it came from,” Peter said.
“My first thought when I learned of its origins was that I wanted to return it to an institution where everyone could study it, and Leeds Museums and Galleries kindly offered to give it a good home,” he said.
The coin was donated to Leeds Museums and Galleries and is now part of the Leeds Discovery Centre, which contains coins and currency from cultures around the world, spanning thousands of years of history.
“It’s incredible to imagine how this little piece of history, created by an ancient civilization thousands of years ago, has somehow found its way into 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, but also about telling stories like this and inspiring visitors to think about the history around us, sometimes in the most unexpected places,” Ms. Arif said.
