As a child I used to hunt for firewood with my dad in skips and on the banks of the Thames; with my mum I used to go to jumble sales. As an adult I frequent charity shops and car boot sales. I comb beaches for fossils and ditches for old road signs. It probably goes without saying that I’ve spent most of my life looking in the gutter for treasure.

My brother was never interested in any of these things so it irks me somewhat that, after a post-Christmas family walk through Richmond* Park, and along the Thames, then up to Petersham, near Ham House, he finds a 1697 William III half penny coin worth up to £300 on the pavement. And then is completely blasé and nonplussed about it.

Offers in excess of £150, please.

*It feels like I haven’t left Richmond for at least the past week. This is my last Richmond-related post. For a while. I promise.