A selection of
choice Milled coins for sale through HistoryInCoins:
Updated 10th
October 2023
(please check the ACTUAL listings pages which,
unlike this, are kept bang up to date):
WAu-7816: 1673 Charles II Restoration
Period Milled Full Gold Guinea. Fourth
laureate bust with the rounded truncation. John & Joseph Roettier dies with Blondeau’s
machinery – the milling on the edge of the coin was a safeguard against
clipping which had been not just a thorn in the side of every hammered period,
but rather a stake. The practise of clipping officially ended here
after several hundred years. The Guinea was so named
because some of the gold bullion used came from the country of Guinea, via the Africa
Company. It was a 20 shilling denomination, directly replacing the
short-lived 1662 gold Broad of 20 shillings. The racehorse
aficionados among you are probably crying out “21 shillings, 21 shillings!” but
revaluation of a guinea to that amount took place in 1717 under George 1st. Incidentally,
there were times prior to 1717 where the actual value of a guinea (and
remember, the value of any coin, guineas very much included, was entirely based
on the precious metal content) was even higher than 21 shillings due to market
fluctuations in the value, or spot price of gold. Spink
3344. No mount marks. £2,775
WAu-7817: 1701 William III Milled
Full Gold Guinea. Second laureate bust with a proliferation
of hair. The milling on the edge of the coin was a safeguard
against clipping which had been not just a thorn in the side of every hammered
period, but rather a stake. The practise of clipping officially
ended with the introduction of milled coinage in 1662. The Guinea was so named
because some of the gold bullion used came from the country of Guinea, via the Africa
Company. It was a 20 shilling denomination, directly replacing the
short-lived 1662 gold Broad of 20 shillings of the earlier Charles
II. The racehorse aficionados among you are probably crying out “21
shillings, 21 shillings!” but revaluation of a guinea to that amount took place
in 1717 under George 1st. Incidentally, there were times
prior to 1717 where the actual value of a guinea (and remember, the value of
any coin, guineas very much included, was entirely based on the precious metal
content) was even higher than 21 shillings due to market fluctuations in the
value, or spot price of gold. Spink 3463. Ex
Morton & Eden (their ticket sold with this coin) for £2,000 hammer (£2,600
after commissions) in 2022, ex Spink. No mount marks and really, a
very nice grade example for a William III guinea. £2,975
WAu-7818: 1714 Queen Anne Milled
Full Gold Guinea. Post Scottish union,
third draped bust. The milling on the edge of the coin was a
safeguard against clipping which had been not just a thorn in the side of every
hammered period, but rather a stake. The practise of clipping
officially ended with the introduction of milled coinage in
1662. The Guinea was so named
because some of the gold bullion used came from the country of Guinea, via the Africa
Company. It was a 20 shilling denomination, directly replacing the
short-lived 1662 gold Broad of 20 shillings of the earlier Charles
II. The racehorse aficionados among you are probably crying out “21
shillings, 21 shillings!” but revaluation of a guinea to that amount took place
in 1717 under George 1st. Incidentally, there were times
prior to 1717 where the actual value of a guinea (and remember, the value of
any coin, guineas very much included, was entirely based on the precious metal
content) was even higher than 21 shillings due to market fluctuations in the
value, or spot price of gold. It won’t have escaped your notice that
with Queen Anne gold coinage in particular, when they do come up, they are
almost always HALF guineas. It really is hard work finding full
guineas. Spink 3574. Ex Spink
with associated Spink tickets. Interestingly,
Spink now appear to use the Ellerby
Hoard as a classification guide – their classification is “Ellerby 181-190”, meaning lots 181 through to 190 in the Ellerby Hoard sale that they conducted were all 1714 Queen
Anne Guineas. For context, the Ellerby
Hoard is a hoard of 266 17th-18th century hammered and milled gold coins found
in a manganese-mottled salt-glazed stoneware vessel in the garden of a house in
Ellerby, East Riding of Yorkshire in
2019. Hoard estimate £200,000; hammer £750,000. As this
guinea is ex Spink (but not ex Ellerby), I think it
only fair to compare. The Ellerby coin
that I’ve attached
here, lot 187, is clearly not quite as good grade as the one on offer on
this website. Never-the-less, both
attracted a Spink grade of “pleasing VF” (NGC got a little carried away and
graded it About Uncirculated!) The Ellerby coin sold for £4,000 after commissions, and that
was several years ago with the market ever moving upwards. Obviously
there’s a small premium for provenance to consider as it was very good
provenance. This coin: no mount marks, some lustre, well struck
up. £3,275
WCA-5779: 1660’s Charles II Copper
Pattern Halfpenny. High grade (about EF) example of the precursor
to the recognised long-lived milled halfpenny which started just a few years
after this pattern in 1672 and ended with the decimal issue of 1984 (pre
decimal copper ended 1860; bronze 1970). A rare
coin, rarer still in this grade. £585
WCA-7145: 1686 James II Tin
Halfpenny. Copper plug intact, slabbed by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation as XF45 –
the lower end of the EF grade bandwidth. All tin coins are
extremely rare in this high grade with this date (the rarest of all three
dates) stated as Very Rare by Peck. Further, the coin database shows
this to be only the second example of a 1686 being offered on the open market
since 2003, the other being ex Dr Nicholson collection. These tin coins had an alarming rate of
wear from circulation. The Ferryman’s hoard of W&M tin coins from the River
Thames in the 1970’s was made up of 1690 through to 1692 tin coins. There were
no copper 1694 coins leading to the conclusion that the purse was dropped into
the Thames 1693 or earlier. Of the many coins,
the 1690’s were all very worn, the 1691’s quite worn and the 1692’s being at
least somewhat worn. The 1690’s coins could only have been in circulation for
three years or so but they were all very worn.
Even the coins that had been in circulation for only up to a year or so were
worn. This illustrates just how hard it is to find high grade tin coinage. As
well as wear, the tin coinage corrodes in air and the soil (tin was far too
reactive a metal to be used for coinage) so high grade examples are at a
premium. Counterfeiting was clearly
a consideration as every tin coin that left the mint had a copper plug –
designed as an anti counterfeiting measure. Perhaps the Mint ought
to have had similar considerations just a few decades on, during the mid to
late 1700’s, when towards the end of the century, counterfeit (and we’re
talking really obvious / very little effort re dies or even the final product)
“copper” coins literally outnumbered the genuine coinage in
circulation! Choice. £1,950
WI-7307: 1681 Charles II SILVER
Proof Irish Halfpenny. Armstrong & Legge’s regal coinage issue of 1680-84. The
coinage was split into two types: large and small lettering. This is
a silver proof for the small letter 1681 issue – the only other silver proof in
the entire series is the 1680 large letter halfpenny. 1681 small
letters (Spink 6575) is extremely rare with, I think, only one example known, which
may well be a copper trial piece using the silver proof dies. Slabbed by PCGS and grade PR53, which I understand to
mean “Proof , about Uncirculated” – the AU
grading system goes down to 50, at which point in becomes “Extremely
Fine”, eg EF45. At the risk of
disagreeing with an American multi national company, this coin is clearly
not uncirculated, although don’t be fooled by
the obverse and reverse flat areas because to a point, these were built into
the dies. It’s a bit better than VF. Choice. £2,985
WJC-7475: HIGH GRADE and CHOICE 1691
William & Mary Scottish Copper Bawbee. Circulated at a sixpence. En medaille die rotation. Dublin. An act of Privy Council in August
1691 authorised a small issue of copper coins (Bawbees and Bodles combined), being up to 500 stones in weight or
less per year, but never to be exceeded. This act carried on when
Mary died into the reign of William II, but effectively, these were the last
Scottish copper coins to date. Initial mark Cross of Five Pellets (many people
don’t even realise these things have initial marks as the grade seen dictates
there is usually nothing to be seen!), Spink 5666. Collectors will
be aware that you hardly ever come across Bawbees (of
any reign) in VF – they were from soft metal and simply did not survive the
rigours of circulation. Further, the obverse dies of William &
Mary bawbees specifically were simply not
up to the job as there was too much design to engrave with the conjoined busts
to give a good result. The trick with these things is to look at the
reverse of any coins in order to gauge the grade as often, as in this case, the
obverse side would have left the mint fairly close to how it looks in this
coin, ie not a patch on the
reverse. This coin is approaching EF for issue. One or
two bawbees of this grade recently came up
in Heritage Auctions where they all achieved four figure prices. I
don’t expect to ever have Bawbees of this
quality ever again – they are that rare. £695
WJC-7476: HIGH GRADE and CHOICE 1692
William & Mary Scottish Copper Bawbee. Circulated at a sixpence. 180 degree die rotation. Dublin. An act of Privy Council in
August 1691 authorised a small issue of copper coins (Bawbees and Bodles combined), being up to 500 stones in weight or
less per year, but never to be exceeded. This act carried on when
Mary died into the reign of William II, but effectively, these were the last
Scottish copper coins to date. Initial mark Two Small Trefoils, (many people
don’t even realise these things have initial marks as the grade seen dictates
there is usually nothing to be seen!), Spink 5668. Collectors will
be aware that you hardly ever come across Bawbees (of
any reign) in VF – they were from soft metal and simply did not survive the
rigours of circulation. Further, the obverse dies of William &
Mary bawbees specifically were simply not
up to the job as there was too much design to engrave with the conjoined busts
to give a good result. The trick with these things is to look at the
reverse of any coins in order to gauge the grade as often, as in this case, the
obverse side would have left the mint fairly close to how it looks in this
coin, ie not a patch on the
reverse. This coin is EF for issue – Spink don’t think any coins in
this grade exist for this year, as evidenced in Spink
2020. One or two bawbees of
this grade, possibly not quite as good as this one in particular, recently came
up in Heritage Auctions where they all achieved four figure
prices. I don’t expect to ever have Bawbees of
this quality ever again – they are that rare. £895
WJC-7477: HIGH GRADE and CHOICE 1692
William & Mary Scottish Copper Bawbee. Circulated at a sixpence. En medaille die rotation. Dublin. An act of Privy Council in
August 1691 authorised a small issue of copper coins (Bawbees and Bodles combined), being up to 500 stones in weight or
less per year, but never to be exceeded. This act carried on when
Mary died into the reign of William II, but effectively, these were the last
Scottish copper coins to date. Initial mark Cross of Five Pellets, or Rosette,
(many people don’t even realise these things have initial marks as the grade
seen dictates there is usually nothing to be seen!), Spink
5667. Collectors will be aware that you hardly ever come
across Bawbees (of any reign) in VF – they
were from soft metal and simply did not survive the rigours of
circulation. Further, the obverse dies of William & Mary bawbees specifically were simply not up to the job as
there was too much design to engrave with the conjoined busts to give a good
result. The trick with these things is to look at the reverse of any
coins in order to gauge the grade as often, as in this case, the obverse side
would have left the mint fairly close to how it looks in this coin, ie not a patch on the reverse. This coin is
EF for issue – Spink don’t think any coins in this grade exist for this year,
as evidenced in Spink 2020. One or two bawbees of
this grade, possibly not quite as good as this one in particular, recently came
up in Heritage Auctions where they all achieved four figure
prices. I don’t expect to ever have Bawbees of
this quality ever again – they are that rare. £795
WJC-7478: HIGH GRADE, CHOICE &
VERY, VERY RARE 1692 DOUBLE DATED William & Mary Scottish Copper Bawbee. Circulated at a
sixpence. En medaille die
rotation. Dublin. This is the extremely rare
1692 error which left the mint with the date on BOTH SIDES. It is
the ‘…ET 1692 REGINA’ error under Spink 5666. An act of Privy Council in
August 1691 authorised a small issue of copper coins (Bawbees and Bodles combined), being up to 500 stones in weight or
less per year, but never to be exceeded. This act carried on when
Mary died into the reign of William II, but effectively, these were the last
Scottish copper coins to date. Initial mark Vertical Line of Three Pellets –
unrecorded in Spink – (many people don’t even realise these things have initial
marks as the grade seen dictates there is usually nothing to be
seen!). Collectors will be aware that you hardly ever come across Bawbees (of any reign) in VF – they were from soft
metal and simply did not survive the rigours of
circulation. Further, the obverse dies of William & Mary bawbees specifically were simply not up to the job as
there was too much design to engrave with the conjoined busts to give a good
result. The trick with these things is to look at the reverse of any
coins in order to gauge the grade as often, as in this case, the obverse side
would have left the mint fairly close to how it looks in this coin, ie not a patch on the reverse. This coin is
nearly EF for issue but there are no better grade examples known for this rare
double date error. One or two bawbees of
this grade, possibly not quite as good as this one in particular, and certainly
not as rare as this variety, recently came up in Heritage Auctions where they
all achieved four figure prices. I don’t expect to ever have Bawbees of this quality & rarity ever again – they
are that rare. £995