A Chinese coin found in a Hampshire field suggests that medieval (中世纪)trade between England and the Far East was more extensive than previously thought, a historian has said.
The coin of the Northern Song dynasty dates from 1008-1016, but is of a type that remained in wide use in China for several hundred years.
It is the second Chinese coin found in a medieval context in England and experts said that its discovery added weight to the idea that the two coins were genuine medieval losses and not dropped by modem collectors.
The coin was found by a detectorist near Petersfield and about 20 miles from the only other Chinese work of art from medieval England: a piece of blue and white porcelain (瓷器)from a small cup or bowl, which could be placed in Winchester in the 14th century.
Caitlin Green, a historian at the University of Cambridge, suggested in a blog that the coin might have been brought to England at about the same time as the porcelain.
She said the finds of this coin and another Northern Song dynasty coin of 1066-77, unearthed in Cheshire, suggest the Winchester porcelain may have been part of the objects from the Far East in the 14th century rather than a one-off. This was centuries before imports of Chinese goods became widespread in the 1600s, but about the same time as Chinese pottery is known to have been owned by royals in France and Italy.
The history of Chinese goods in Britain goes back further, however, with rich Roman Britons known to have bought Chinese silk.
Dr Green said that goods from China would have reached England over several stages by way of the Middle East and Italy.
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