The coin, the size of a dime, was found in 1974 while working on a field near Ter Apel. The finder rushed it to the local jeweler, who didn’t know what to do with it. He referred the man to his colleague in Emmen. He gave the farm worker a brooch in exchange for the coin.
Marianne Bakker of Museum Collection Brands: “The Emmer jeweler contacted our Jans Brands, the man who founded our museum with his collection. Jans bought the coin from him because he thought he saw Merovingian and Roman features. In order to get a definitive answer, he sent it to the Koninklijk Penningkabinet (the museum that specialized in, among other things, coins, ed.).” Research there showed that Jans had indeed stumbled upon something very rare; a golden solidus of King Dagobert I, from the seventh century.
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