Ancient coin used on Leeds bus is over 2,000 years old
The coin will now be part of the collection based at Leeds Discovery Centre
- Published
A strange coin once used to pay a bus fare in Leeds has turned out to be more than 2,000 years old.
The coin was discovered in the 1950s by James Edwards, who worked as chief cashier for the city's transport company.
His job was to collect money from bus and tram drivers at the end of the day. Sometimes he found coins that were not British or could not be used.
Instead of throwing them away, he saved them for his grandson Peter, who kept the coins safely in a small wooden chest for more than 70 years.
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Peter's grandfather James worked at the Leeds City Transport offices in the 1950s
Peter, now 77, remembers how he first got the coins.
"My grandfather would come across coins which were not British and put them to one side, and when I went to his house, he would hand me a few, " he said.
Curious about the coin, Peter traced its history and discovered its origins, finding out that it was made by the ancient Carthaginians.
The Carthaginians were part of a much older seafaring culture called the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians lived along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea (in areas that are now parts of Lebanon, Syria and Israel).
They were famous sailors and traders who travelled long distances in wooden ships.
As they sailed, they set up towns and trading posts around the Mediterranean so they could buy and sell goods.
This coin was made in the Spanish city of Cádiz during the 1st century BC.
Phoenician coins carried Greek imagery to make them more appealing to traders
The coin shows the face of the god Melqart, who looks similar to the Greek hero Heracles and is shown wearing a lionskin headdress.
Long ago, some Phoenician coins used Greek-style pictures so traders from different places would recognise and trust them.
After learning the coin's history, Peter donated it to Leeds Museums and Galleries, where it is now part of the collection at the Leeds Discovery Centre.
Councillor Salma Arif said: "It's incredible to imagine how this tiny piece of history created by an ancient civilisation thousands of years ago has somehow made its way to Leeds and into our collection."
Peter says that: "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, and Leeds Museums and Galleries kindly offered to give it a good home.
"My grandfather would be proud to know, as I am, that the coin is coming back to Leeds. However, how it got there will always be a mystery."
