Ancient coin collection stolen during break-in at Merghiny
Police are on the hunt for a collection of ancient coins – some dating back to 400BC – that was stolen from an isolated property on the state’s west coast.
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An ancient collection of coins – some dating back to 400BC – has been stolen from an isolated property on the state’s west coast.
Owner Allan Lowe, 79, had been collecting the coins for more than 40 years and had them locked in a safe.
But on Sunday, July 23, he came home to discover the entire safe had been stolen from his home in Merghiny, near Ceduna.
“(I) came home at five o’clock and the place had been down over, they had opened all the furniture and tipped all the drawers upside down,” Mr Lowe said.
“They went through the safe which my grandfather would have owned, it would have taken four men to lift, (but) that had been rolled out the door and stolen, and that had some of the coins in.”
Mr Lowe’s collection of ancient coins included Roman coins dating back to 300AD, Russian wire money, Pantheon coins from India dating back to 400BC up until the 17th century, Byzantine roman coins and a blue and a yellow Fatimid glass coin which are particularly rare.
A kissi penny and a number of Australian and New Zealand penny tokens were also stolen.
Among the stolen coins were “documents, share certificates and birth certificate,” which Mr Lowe now needs to replace.
He said has “a little bit of suspicion” about who might have stolen his belongings.
“It’s still going to be proven. The cops are (going to) catch the people,” he said.
Mr Lowe said as well as being historically significant, the coin collection was worth a lot of money.
“Things like the penny tokens from the 1850s, something like that I paid five bucks for them, now they could be $60 to $100,” he said.
He said another coin that he paid around $600 for, could be worth “a couple of thousands now.”
“I don’t really think the person who robbed them if after antique coins, he’s just after money,” he said.
Police are urging anyone with information about the theft or whereabouts of the stolen coins to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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