An eleventh-century Chinese coin unearthed in Hampshire provides new evidence of a bustling trade in luxury goods from the Far East more than 700 years ago.
The copper coin, which was found by a detectorist at Buriton, Hampshire, around nine miles from the coast, weighs 0.12 ounces (3.6g) and has a diameter of just under an inch (25mm).
Researchers believe it was minted between 1008 and 1016, during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song dynasty, and arrived in Britain around the 13th or 14th century, when luxury Chinese pottery was being widely imported.
The coin has the inscription 'Xiangfu yuanbao' (祥符元寶) in traditional Chinese characters on one side and a central square hole, allowing multiple coins of its type to be strung together.