Ancient Gold Coins

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Scottish & English Hammered and Milled Gold Coins:

 

 

Please note that Lay-Away is no longer available on any gold coinage.  This is because early gold coins appreciate in value so quickly in the current market that it has gotten to the stage – in fact it’s been this way for a while now – that after several months on Lay-Away, I’m selling at a fair bit under market value; in fact I’m sometimes selling at under what I’d pay to get new stock in!

 

 

WAu-7760:  Alexander III Ancient Greek Macedonian Kingdom Gold Stater.  Head of Athena, not Alexander III which seems to be a common misrepresentation, wearing a Corinthian helmet; Nike on the reverse.  8.35g.  Many staters from this period are not Alexander but earlier examples struck under Philip.  A really good Alexander III gold stater will cost you upwards of £5,000 today and if you’ve read the bit above about Lay-Away, that price will be more as time goes on!  Alexander III began his “career” as King of Macedon but literally only spent the first two years of his reign in his native kingdom, being busy elsewhere building a vast empire stretching from Greece to India.  He died at just 33.  A rare opportunity to not just own a piece of history but an opportunity to own it in solid gold and at a fraction of the usual price.  Ex Bruun Rasmusson, ex Dr Daniel Offer, ex Spink.  £1,650

 

WAu-7761:  Roman Gold Flavian Dynasty Stater – Titus as Caesar.  Titus (full name Titus Flavius Vespasianus) as Caesar was a somewhat junior rank as he had not at this point become emperor.  This coin was issued under the earlier reign of his father, Vespasian.  Titus succeeded to the imperial throne upon the death of Vespasian on June 24th, AD 79.  He only reigned for two years and during this brief period, he ruled over a series of huge natural disasters, perhaps the best known being the eruption of Mount Vesuvius which destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum.  Rome, AD 74. T•CAESAR•IMP•VESP, laureate head of Titus right / PONTIF-TR POT, Fortuna standing left on garlanded cippus, grounded rudder in right hand, cornucopia cradled in left arm. Calicó 751. RIC II (Vespasian) 696.  7.00g.  Ex Dr Daniel Offer collection, ex Spink.  £2,450

 

WAu-7762:  **Choice** Saxon Merovingian Gold Tremissis.   Wico in Pontio (Quentovic), c. 620-640. Tremissis (Gold, 13mm, 1.26g, 0h), Moneyer Dutta. +VVICCO FIT Laureate bust to right. Rev. DVTTA MONET, Cross on three steps. Belfort 4959. NM II p. 55, 14. Prou 1125.  Rare but rarer still being centrally struck and such good grade. Clear and well struck, good very fine or better.  The Merovingian Dynasty was based in ancient Gaul (which is now France) and dates from the middle of the 5th century AD.  The coins were very much trading pieces and many have been found in Britain as Saxon trade between the Continent and Britain was extremely robust.  Similar examples have been found as far west as Cornwall and as far north as Northumbria.  Ex Ian Millington (an expert of Anglo Saxon coinage, ex Silbury Coins (their ticket), ex DNW.  You will not find a better example of this early Saxon gold coin.  It really is a choice coin.  £3,150

 

WAu-7763:  Robert III Medieval Hammered Gold Demy-Lion.   Heavy coinage, 1390-1403, second issue.  1.77g.  Circulated at 2s, 6d.  Shield in tressure / long saltire cross with lis.  Spink 5158.  Ex Mark Rasmusson.  £3,995

 

WAu-7553:  Henry IV Hammered Medieval Gold Noble.  Light Coinage of 1412 – 1413 only, London mint, Spink 1715.  Easter 1412 hailed a numismatic New Dawn – due to fiscally challenging times, gold and silver coinage was officially issued at a reduced weight.  We’re all so jaded with officialdom today that many might think this was no big deal but although there had previously been “tinkering” of weights (Edward III nobles down from 138 grains to 120 grains), this was the first official “Light Coinage” episode where the coin in your hand was not quite worth the amount it represented.  A few Henrys on and just over 100 years in the future, Henry VIII took this concept to a whole new level.  Some might even argue that reducing silver content by half and then ultimately taking silver out of coinage altogether in the early and mid 20th century was worse still.  However, in 1412 in was the first time and it was momentous.  This decision made, it would be an obvious move, you’d imagine, to increase the output of gold from the mint, thereby benefiting the exchequer.  However, there is no numismatic evidence suggesting that this actually happened; the main reason being that bullion was still very thin on the ground.  Another reason was the almost complete lack of skilled staff at every level in the mint due to extreme inactivity during the preceding years.  In September 1412, the warden at the mint was ordered to recruit moneyers and die-sinkers.  Bear in mind that Henry IV, who was very much a slave to ill health at this point anyway, died 20th March 1413 so we’re talking six months to basically start coin production from scratch and in an environment where bullion was in extremely short supply.  Coincraft states, “Collectors will have great difficulty in obtaining one (Henry IV noble)”.  Small edge metal loss at 3 o’clock, brought about by a contemporary planchet fault.  Exceedingly rare.  Ex Spink with their old ticket.  £5,795 RESERVED (S.H.18-10-22 Lay-Away)

 

WAu-7694:  Henry VI Hammered Gold First Reign Noble.  Annulet issue of 1422-30.  Initial mark Lis, London mint, annulet by sword arm and in one reverse spandrel (1 0’clock).  Spink 1799.  6.87 grams, 4h, 34mm diameter.  Attractively toned, GVF grade.  Sold with a couple of old tickets, one being Baldwin’s – see here.   A handsome and desirable coin.  £5,585

 

WAu-7555:  Edward IV Hammered Medieval Gold Ryal or Rose Noble.  Light Coinage of 1464 – 1470 only, London mint, small fleurs in spandrels, initial mark Crown, Spink 1951.  This coin, issued in 1465, whilst unambiguously attractive in design, was a bit of a disaster.  It superseded the old Noble because this was now considered a clunky and old fashioned denomination at 6s. 8d.  The new Ryal or Rose Noble denomination was nice and user-friendly at 10 shillings.  However, it wasn’t.  The noble had been around for so long that 6s. 8d. had actually become the professionals’ standard fee.  Whilst these professionals wouldn’t have minded being the beneficiary of a not inconsequential pay rise virtually overnight, the people who employed these individuals were most certainly not up for that.  Thus the new 10 shilling Ryal or Rose Noble denomination was itself superseded just 5 years later by the gold Angel and everyone was happy because the Angel circulated at, wait for it, exactly the same as the old Noble - 6s. 8d, or at least it did until Henry VIII got involved when, somewhat counter-intuitively, it increased to 7s. 6d in his Second Coinage!  At virtually full weight and VF grade, this is a lovely example of an iconic English late Medieval hammered gold coin.  £6,850

 

WAu-7311:  Henry VIII Hammered Gold Crown of the Double Rose.  Third coinage, initial mark none / WS monogram, 1544-47, Bristol mint.  Spink 2310.  Ex Spink (various tickets here).  Slightly wavy flan with minor edge splits.  A very popular coin and invariably a minimum of £5K in today’s market.  This one priced very competitively at £4,295

 

WAu-7695:  Charles 1st Hammered Gold Crown.  Initial mark Lis, Tower mint under the King.  Group A, first bust of 1625 depicting the king in his coronation robes.  Excellent grade, being the very first gold crown to be issued under Charles 1st.  £1,795

 

WAu-7191:  James II Gold Touch-Piece: Guaranteed to have been personally touched by King James II.  An ancient practice – that of The Devine (the monarchy was seen very much as a physical, tangible extension of God) healing sufferers of Scrofula (Tuberculosis) – dating as far back as Henry II.  All subsequent monarchs took some part in the ceremony (William & Mary refused because William was not of English royal decent) although Henry VIII was the most reluctant.  Interestingly, although somewhat disinclined due to an unwillingness to mingle with the common man, it was Henry who initiated the design of St George and the dragon on subsequent Touching Ceremony gold coins.  Although James’s brother, King Charles II, was an enthusiastic believer in the divine right of kings, James was actually more prolific in his touching, the number of sick being brought to him being as much as 14,364 in one year.  Clearly James II had an extremely short-lived reign, and it must be noted that for the first months of touching, he actually used the left over Charles II gold pieces – some 1,905 of them.  Again, the new touch-pieces were the work of John Roettier.  It is estimated that 1% of the London population suffered during this time), so James was never short of participants.  Interestingly, his ultimately toxic religious views seemed to have mattered very little to the average man in the street who was suffering from this extremely unpleasant disease – if James II could cure him, bring it on!  James II personally attended these ceremonies and physically handed the touch-piece to each and every sufferer.  Sufferers were invited and issued with an official Ticket-Pass to admit them to the ceremony.  You gave your Ticket-Pass in at the door, entered the ceremony, got touched by the king, received your gold coin from the king himself and hopefully left as a cured individual.  The Ticket-Token were collected and re-issued for the next Touching Ceremony.  James II touched no less than 12,000 a year during his short reign.  Touching Ceremonies were scheduled weekly, although never when the weather was warm.  Under Charles II, in 1684 the size of the gold touch-pieces were reduced and this was maintained under James.  The value of these pieces was some 5 shillings so very few would have survived the temptation of being spent as currency and thus quickly melted down upon numerous currency recalls, not least upon the death of monarchs.  Very rare indeed; more so due to the shortness of King James’s reign.  £1,850

 

WAu-7765:  1710 Queen Anne Full Gold Guinea.   Post Scottish union, third draped bust, Spink 3574.  8.36g.  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.  Very light ex mounting marks at 11, 12 and 1 o’clock but again, find one that doesn’t these days.  However, they really are minor and do not detract.  Sold with a ticket that made no mention of mount marks.  £2,395 RESERVED (M.He.23-5-23)