A Lyme Regis palaeontologist has come across an unusual find in his quest to retrieve historical evidence before it is lost forever.

Dr Colin Dawes was delighted to find two antique love tokens while exploring the Undercliff between Lyme Regis and Axmouth.

Under the authority of Natural England, Dr Dawes has been searching the area with his metal detector.

He is used to finding cartridge caps from old guns, but love tokens are rare.

He said: “I retrieve and record items of historical interest before they are obliterated in the wake of coastal erosion. We are losing a lot already and it’s getting more and more difficult as you get crevices formed.

“I have joined work parties through the Undercliff and followed them with the detector to find anything that can throw light on the history of the the area.

“They were both found within the last couple of years, which shows how uncommon they are.”

It used to be common practice for a man to present a woman he fancied with a coin bent in the shape of the letter S.

“The reason they turn up in remote places is because they were courting in romantic places,” said Dr Dawes.

The oldest token dated back to 1603 and was fashioned from a worn silver coin Dr Dawes said: “It’s not particularly valuable today because the condition is poor. But you would have had to be wealthy to have one in silver at that time.”

The coin has been identified under the Portable Antiquities Scheme as Dutch, from the southern province of Zeeland.

It depicts on one side a lion coming out of three waves – not too dissimilar to the Lyme Regis shield, which shows two waves and a lion prancing above it.

“So is there a connection between Lyme Regis and Zeeland?” asked Dr Dawes.

“Well there is at least a link with Holland because the Duke of Monmouth arrived from Holland.

“I would like to think it came over in a treasure box in one of the three ships that Monmouth came over in.

“The other connection is we were at war with the Dutch in the late 1600s. In Lyme Bay a skirmish took place. It perhaps dropped off a boat or it might have come off a body?”

The token was found loose in long grass, which also prompts Dr Dawes to question whether a magpie or jackdaw picked up the coin washed up from a shipwreck, and dropped it in flight.

The other love token was fashioned from a worn Georgian copper halfpenny, dating back to the late 1700s.

Dr Dawes said: “It’s so worn but I’ve got a huge collection of these coins so it’s definitely a King George III coin.

“Although the token is of base metal and not as old as the Zeeland silver specimen, it adds to the growing evidence acquired by metal detectorists that men of all classes used coins when courting the fairer sex.”