Mid-Century Bus Fare was 2,000-Year-Old Coin
The grandson of a city transport chief cashier learned the origins of a coin his grandfather gave him and realized it was worthy of a museum.
Sometimes, a few foreign coins get caught up in the currency spent. Still, it’s rare that they’re as exotic as the 2,000-year-old coin that was once used as bus fare in England.
77-year-old Peter Edwards recalls that his grandfather, James Edwards, chief cashier with Leeds City Transport, saved foreign or otherwise ineligible coins and shared them with him. According to the Leeds City Council, Edwards says, “It was not long after the war, so I imagine soldiers returned with coins from countries they had been sent to.”
Edwards held onto the coins his grandfather gave him, although he says, “Neither of us were coin collectors but we were fascinated by their origin and imagery.” One especially unusual coin, whose worn design includes a face on one side, intrigued him so much that he recently decided to research it.
He learned that the coin was Carthaginian, made by the ancient people who migrated west from Phoenicia and settled throughout the Mediterranean. It dates to about the 1st century BC and probably came from what is now the city of Cadiz in southern Spain. The face belongs to the Phoenician god Melqart, who is often associated with the Greek hero Heracles.
Edwards said, “My first thought when I found out its origin was that I would like to return it to an institute where it could be studied by all.” He contacted Leeds Museums and Galleries, which accepted the coin for their collection at the Leeds Discovery Centre.
Leeds City Council member Salma Arif says of the donation, “Museums like ours are not just about preserving objects, they’re also about telling stories like this one and inspiring visitors to think about the history that’s all around us, sometimes in the most unlikely of places.” Edwards’s coin leaves plenty to think about; even after all his research, he says “how it got there will always be a mystery.”
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