£25 car boot Captain Cook medal sells for £5,000

A rare 18th Century medal, which was bought at a West Yorkshire car boot sale for £25, has sold for £5,000 at auction.

The medal, which was issued to commemorate the death of explorer Captain James Cook, was sold to the Captain Cook Memorial Museum in Whitby and will form part of a new exhibition marking 300 years since his birth in 1728.

"It will be displayed in the harbourside building where the young James Cook lived as an apprentice," said Richard Kornicki, chairman of trustees at the museum.

Only two other examples of the bronze medal are listed in museum collections in Greenwich and Sydney.

The medal's seller discovered it in a group of medals dating from between the 18th and 20th centuries at a car boot sale and paid £25 for the box.

"We are delighted that such a rare medal is heading for a new home in the Captain Cook Museum," said Will Dobbins, coin specialist at Tennants Auctioneers who sold the medal.

"It will be exhibited alongside rare and fascinating material to celebrate the anniversary of such a key figure in British history," he added.

Captain Cook was killed in 1779 following a dispute with native Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay.

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