Coin depicting undiscovered Iron Age ruler set to fetch thousands at auction after being discovered in a field

The name of a new Iron Age English ruler or king has been discovered on a coin found in a Hampshire field. Dating from around 50 BC the gold coin is stamped with the name “Esunertos” - a previously unrecorded Iron Age ruler.

The find has been described by experts as “one of the outstanding discoveries of recent decades”. The coin, around the size of a fingernail, was dug up by a metal detector in a farmer’s field in March.

Neither the finder or the site have been disclosed. The coin bears the name and it dates to the very beginning of written language appearing in the British Isles.

It was struck sometime between 50 and 30 BC, shortly after Julius Caesar’s first Roman raid of Britain in 55 BC. He landed on the Kent coast with a fleet of ships carrying 20,000 Roman soldiers.

Waiting for them on the beach were thousands of Celtic warriors but the Romans were forced to return home after struggling to land and rough seas wrecking their boats. Caesar returned the following year with 50,000 soldiers before defeating many tribes and marching all the way to the River Thames.

But after three months of fighting, they left to stop a rebellion in Gaul. The long-term settlement of Britain by Rome didn’t occur until 43 AD when Claudius was emperor.