A gold coin dating to Anglo-Saxon times has been bought by the British Museum for more than £350,000.
The deal by the central London museum makes it the most expensive British coin ever purchased.
It depicts King Coenwulf of Mercia, who ruled Mercia and much of southern England, in the early 9th Century and was a very important find.
A metal detector enthusiast found it next to the River Ivel in Bedfordshire in 2001, and it was later bought by a US collector.
When the owner put it up for sale last year, the Government put a temporary export ban in place hoping it would be saved for the nation.
The National Heritage Memorial Fund provided £225,000 of the £357,832 total cost while the remainder was paid by the Art Fund, the British Museum Friends, the Goldsmiths' Company, individual donors and the museum itself.
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