A PIECE of gold treasure found by a man with a metal detector dates back to the 17th century and is a unique find for Wales.
The gold touch-piece of James II is almost certainly the only one of its kind to be found in Wales after being discovered by Philip Richard Jones on his land at Overton.

Yesterday the item was declared treasure by North East Wales coroner John Hughes at an inquest at Flint magistrates court.

The inquest heard how the coin-like piece dating from between 1685 to 1688 was unearthed in July and transferred to the National Museum in August.

The touch-piece has a sailing ship on one side and St Michael and the dragon on the other, is punctured by a small hole and is made of gold “of a high fineness”.

Touch pieces form part of the ceremony of touching for “the King’s evil”, a complaint called scrofula. Dating back to the time of Edward IV in 1465, there was a belief that the King’s touch cured the condition and patients were touched by the King by a coin called the angel or angel-noble.

Angel-nobles were coins of the realm and the last one was minted by Charles I who reigned between 1625 and 1649.

Angels were coins of the realm but after King Charles was executed and Parliamentary rule was introduced in England, there was obviously discontinuation of the “king’s evil” ritual.

With the Restoration and the reign of Charles II there was a revival of the ritual and patients received a small gold medallion, with the essential design of the noble, called a touch-piece.

By now the coins had become restrictred to ceremonial purposes only and weren’t of common currency.

After the inquest Mr Hughes told the Leader: “An expert from the National Museum of Wales believes that this is treasure and I agreed with that.

“The National Museum wants to buy it and it looks to be unique in Wales.”

The 2007 Treasure Annual Report describes how a post-mediecal gold half touch
-piece of James II was found in Bankside, City of London by a Mr P. Olivant, also with a metal detector, in May 2004.

The ship that appears on the obverse was only faintly visible due to wear but the top right half of St Michael and the Dragon was visible.

As is commonly the case with such touch-pieces, the item had been pierced for wear as a talisman. It may have been cut deliberately as cutting coins and medals into two pieces, so that the two halves could be retained as keepsakes by two individuals was a relatively common practice over the centuries.

Surface analysis conducted at the British Museum indicated a gold content of approximately 90 per cent. The piece was declared treasure and as there was no museum interest it was returned to the finder.