Rodger Price finds ultra-rare Lanimer artefact

In fact, the case of the 1897 Lanimer Penny – marking what was just the fifth annual holding of the celebration – is even stranger and more mysterious than that, the historic coin first coming to light over half a century ago and even further away from its place of origin, in Newmains.

It belongs to veteran freelance photographer and old friend of the Gazette’s Rodger Price who was clearing out a room in his Carluke home when he came across the old coin he’d forgotten finding when he was just a wee lad half a century ago.

Rodger said: “I was doing a bit of spring cleaning – in other words I was trying to find room to put my feet down – and came across a Lanimer Day coin from 1897. There is an interesting tale to how it came into my possession.

“As a young lad of 12 years living in Newmains I went fishing at the Hot Water Pond next to Coopers Garage in Newmains.

“While digging for worms at the side of the pond there was the sound of something metallic on the spade.

“On investigating I discovered hidden treasure in the form of the 1897 Lanimer Day coin, probably worth about a penny then.

“I put it among some other treasures I had and rediscovered it just last week.

“I looked on the internet and discovered the coins started in 1893 with the first Lanimer Queen Grace Adams, a pupil of Lanark Grammar School.”