A RARE pound coin dating from the English Civil War has sold at auction for a staggering £56,000.

The ‘Declaration Pound’ went under the hammer at Duke’s of Dorchester in a collectors’ sale recently.

It had been hoped that the historic coin would reach £50,000 but exceeded all expectations.

The solid silver pound dates from 1643 and was made in Oxford – the newly-forged seat of power for Charles the First after he withdrew from London at the start of the Civil War.

A new parliament was set up as was a mint at New Inn Hall that was created to launch an official currency in Royalist control.

The writing on the back of the coin translates as ‘Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered’.

It is literally a declaration of the King’s power and his belief in the ‘absolute monarch’. The coin is a rare survivor from the last years of the doomed monarch’s reign.

The Civil War continued until 1651. Despite Charles the First being beheaded and his son being exiled, the monarchy was later restored in the UK.

Two Russian commemorative medals, estimated to go for £3,000-£6,000 each, were snapped up at the auction for £85,400 and £97,600.

And a World War One lot that included a bullet wedged in a cigarette case that saved the life of the private who had it about his person, went for £1,905.

Timothy Medhurst from the auction rooms, said: “We were particularly pleased with the price for the Declaration Pound.

“It came from a local family and was made from solid silver and had been kept in very good condition. It was struck in 1643 in Oxford, a newly-forged seat of power for Charles I after he withdrew from London.”

He added: “We had lots of international interest in the Russian commemorative medals that were consigned by a local family – and sold for a total of more than £180,000.

“These solid gold medals date from the mid-18th century and commemorate the establishment of the Moscow Foundling House and the transportation of the granite monolith for the monument for Peter I.”