It was after receiving the news from the museum that her find was definitely not a coin that she began to make sense of what it was exactly.
She was learning that the coin had not been used as currency in the past, but the value it held was even more precious than ancient money.
Ms. Harding Heads to the Museum
At the museum, she found experts on the very type of treasure she found.
She was hopeful and excited to learn about the piece, and she told them the whole story about how she found it as a girl and how she had held onto it all these years.
The day of Reckoning
Upon entering the museum, Ms. Harding was directed to the lab, where knowledgeable coin experts have the proper tools to analyze artifacts.
She carefully pulled it from her bag and handed it to the museum staff. It only took a few minutes of close examination. The news she received was surprising.
An Extremely Rare Item
Kate’s makes four. Just four of these medallions are known to exist. Only three others, besides Ms. Harding’s, have ever been found in the UK.
In 2007, one of these rare finds was purchased by the British Museum for £1,800. Its value was not to bring Ms. Harding such fortune. Instead, this was just the beginning of her troubles.
It's a Piedfort!
Piedforts are rare to find. Unlike coins, only one piedfort of each type is made at a time. They look like coins, and they may have been used as a model for a batch of coins to be minted.
All that is known is that they are approximately twice as heavy as a coin, and the thickness is about double a coin’s thickness. Piedforts may also have been used as gifts for dignitaries or kings.