It looked like just another coin dropped into a fare box on a Leeds bus. But decades later, that small piece of metal turned out to be something far older than anyone expected.

More than 2,000 years older.

The coin, recently donated to Leeds Museums and Galleries, was revealed to date back to the 1st century BC. According to officials, it was originally produced by Carthaginians in the Spanish city of Cadiz.

Yet somehow, thousands of years later, it ended up paying for a bus ride in Leeds.

The story surfaced after 77-year-old Peter Edwards donated the coin to the museum. The artifact had been passed down to him by his grandfather, James Edwards, who once worked as chief cashier at Leeds City Transport.

In the 1950s, bus and tram drivers would hand in the money they collected at the end of each day. James Edwards was responsible for counting it.

Sometimes, though, odd coins would appear in the pile.

“My grandfather would come across coins which were not British and put them to one side, and when I went to his house, he would hand me a few,” Peter Edwards said in a statement.

The habit likely started just after the Second World War, when unusual coins from around the world occasionally surfaced in everyday circulation.

“It was not long after the war, so I imagine soldiers returned with coins from countries they had been sent to,” Edwards said. “Neither of us were coin collectors but we were fascinated by their origin and imagery – to me they were treasure.”

One of those coins eventually stood out.

After researching it years later, Edwards discovered it came from a Carthaginian settlement along the Spanish coast.

On one side of the coin is the face of the god Melqart. The figure resembles the Greek hero Herakles and is shown wearing his well-known lionskin headdress. Phoenician coins from the period sometimes borrowed Greek imagery to make them more recognizable to traders across the Mediterranean.

The small artifact is now considered both rare and mysterious by museum officials.

Edwards decided to donate the coin after realizing its historical significance and unusual journey.

“The coin always fascinated me because it was hard to decipher where it came from,” he said.

“My first thought when I found out its origin was that I would like to return it to an institute where it could be studied by all, and Leeds Museums and Galleries kindly offered to give it a good home.”

He added that the moment also felt like a tribute to his grandfather.

“My grandfather would be proud to know, as I am, that the coin is coming back to Leeds. However, how it got there will always be a mystery.”

Today, the coin has a permanent place at the Leeds Discovery Centre, where it sits among thousands of historic coins and currencies preserved in the museum’s collections.

For local officials, the object represents something larger than its size.

“It’s incredible to imagine how this tiny piece of history created by an ancient civilisation thousands of years ago has somehow made its way to Leeds and into our collection,” said Councillor Salma Arif of Leeds City Council.

“Museums like ours are not just about preserving objects, they’re also about telling stories like this one and inspiring visitors to think about the history that’s all around us, sometimes in the most unlikely of places.”

A coin minted in the ancient Mediterranean. A bus ride in 1950s England. And a mystery that may never be fully explained.