On our back deck, beside the outside tap, we have a couple of ornamental bamboos in pots. This afternoon, as I was filling a bucket, I noticed something shiny under the roots of one of the plants and, being curious by nature, I had a closer look.

It was a coin, a ten pence coin, but one from the Isle of Man. Well, neither of us has ever been there, and we can be sufficiently sure of Australia’ strict biosecurity laws to guarantee it didn’t come with the plants or the potting compost.

The pots do however have an ornamental stone mulch on the top. These mulches are quite often come from Thailand, Indonesia, or elsewhere in south east Asia, so it would just about be believable if I’d found a couple of one or two baht coins.

My only guess is that sometime between 1992, when the coin was minted,  and whenever a river somewhere in south east Asia was dredged for river pebbles, someone from the Isle of Man who was visiting the area slipped and dropped a couple of coins.

I’ve written before about out of area coin finds, such as Roman coins in Africa and of course the Kilwa coins, so it was kind of interesting to have a personal experience such as this, even if it was with something as mundane as a 10p coin from the Isle of Man …