Five rare silver coins from the reign of Henry VII are among the highlights of a dispersal of material from the Littlebrook Hoard, a significant early-16th-century English find that will be offered by Noonans Mayfair in London on Feb. 10, 2026.
The standout pieces include a Tentative issue groat with an unusually strong portrait, estimated at £400–500; a groat with a rare double mintmark (cross-crosslet and pheon), estimated at £300–400; and an extremely rare York halfgroat expected to realize £200–300. Two additional Henry VII groats — one with mintmark pheon and another with a portcullis over T — carry estimates of £200–300 and £300–400, respectively.
In total, 200 silver coins from the hoard will be sold individually, with the group expected to realize about £30,000. The coins were discovered more than two decades ago during building work at Littlebrook Farm, a Grade II listed property on Belchalwell Street near Blandford Forum in Dorset.
The hoard came to light in May 2004, when builders excavating a new parking area uncovered a pottery vessel buried beneath terracotta tiles. Inside were 213 silver coins.
“You never expect to find a hoard of coins,” said owner Peter Gray, now 79, a retired international bank inspector. “The cottage dates from the 1500s or early 1600s, and it was a wonderful surprise when I was told what they had found.”
Gray said the identity of the original owner is unknown, but the property’s proximity to the Dorset Gap — a historic route linking the south coast with Dorchester and Salisbury — raises the possibility the coins were concealed for safekeeping.
“It’s possible they were hidden by a smuggler,” he said.
Under the U.K.’s Treasure process, 13 coins were acquired by Dorset Museum, along with the pottery vessel, which was damaged during excavation. Gray also compensated the builders, who were entitled to a share of the find.
According to Noonans coin specialist Jim Brown, the hoard — originally known as the Okeford Fitzpaine Hoard — consists of 176 groats and 37 halfgroats, all English silver struck to the official sterling standard.
“The coins were clearly deposited on a single occasion,” Brown said, “and represent a selected group of higher-value silver coins circulating in the early 16th century, before the introduction of the new weight standard in 1526.”
The earliest coin in the hoard is a halfgroat of Edward III, dated about 1351–52, while the most recent is a York halfgroat struck after Cardinal Wolsey’s appointment as bishop in 1514. The deposit is believed to date from about 1514–20.
The pottery jug, described as a simple vessel with a crimped rim, was confirmed by the British Museum as late-15th-century German stoneware from the Ruhr region.
With its strong representation of Henry VII coinage and clear archaeological context, the Littlebrook Hoard offers collectors a rare opportunity to acquire individually provenanced pieces from a documented Tudor-era deposit.