Ancient coins may solve mystery of notorious 17th-century English pirate

A 17th-century Arabian silver coin, top, that research shows was struck in 1693 in Yemen, rests near an Oak Tree Shilling minted in 1652 by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, below, and a Spanish half real coin from 1727, right, on a table, in Warwick, Rhode Island (Steven Senne/AP)

A handful of coins unearthed from a pick-your-own-fruit orchard in rural Rhode Island and other random corners of New England in the US may help solve one of the planet’s oldest cold cases.

The villain in the tale is a murderous English pirate who became the world’s most-wanted criminal after plundering a ship carrying Muslim pilgrims home to India from Mecca, then eluded capture by posing as a slave trader.