‘How old is it?’ asked Emily.
‘It’s not really my area. But I’d say it’s about two thousand years old. Give or take a couple of hundred years,’ said Rhys. All heads briefly turned his way. ‘It’s terra sigillata. It’s almost certainly Roman.’
The heads turned back in unison to stare at the broken red earthenware pot nestled in the wooden crate, still caked in mud. Lottie marvelled at the faint flower pattern still visible. To think it had lain in their garden all those years and was only now seeing daylight again. Or the kitchen strip light, to be more precise.
‘What’s it worth?’ asked Angie.
Rhys puckered his lips. ‘If it was perfect, maybe a couple of hundred. In this condition not a lot. But a local museum would be interested.’
Jessie was pulling a face. ‘Is the pot metal?’
‘No, it’s made from a type of red clay. When it was new it would have had a shiny glaze,’ explained Nicola, always keen to show off her knowledge.
Jessie was frowning. ‘Because Rhys said the metal dec-tor—’
‘Dee-tect-or,’ corrected Emily, snaking an arm around Jessie’s shoulder.
‘Dee-tect-or,’ repeated Jessie. ‘He said it beeped if it found metal. And it was beeping a lot.’
Heads swivelled around the table and, as simultaneous pennies dropped, Rhys reached for the pot.
‘Be careful,’ said his mother.
‘Empty out the earth,’ instructed Daniel.
Rhys used his trowel to carefully nudge the soil out of the top of the pot. He was almost halfway down before he paused. ‘There’s something there.’ He looked back at the eager faces.
‘Let’s see,’ said Jessie, voicing everybody’s thoughts.
Rhys reached in and pulled out a lump of mud caked around a number of tiny green discs.
Zach lifted up Jessie so she could get a better look. ‘What are they?’ she asked.
‘They’re coins,’ said Zach. ‘Very old ones.’
Angie reached for one that was jutting out. She gently rubbed the soil off its surface and peered at it closely.
‘Is it Roman?’ asked Emily.
‘Is it worth anything?’ asked Daniel.
‘Is it lunchtime?’ asked Jessie, wriggling to get down from her father’s arms.
‘Clasped hands,’ said Angie in a faint voice. She was frowning hard at the coin.
Rhys bent his head to get a better look. ‘I think that denotes it was minted here.’
‘What’s that mean?’ asked Lottie. ‘Is it fake?’
‘No. I think it’s one of only a few coins minted in Britain by Carausius,’ said Rhys.
‘To think the house has been keeping that a secret for all these years,’ said Lottie to nobody in particular.
‘There’s one of those coins on eBay for eighty quid,’ said Daniel, showing round his phone screen at lightning speed.
‘It’s treasure-trove, Daniel. This needs to be declared tothe authorities.’ Nicola turned to Rhys. ‘This could be an important find. It’s a wonderful thing for your CV once you leave university and—’
‘I already left uni at the end of last term,’ said Rhys, taking the coin from Angie, ‘and I’m not going back.’
