This week’s fresh listings:

This page is to be updated every Tuesday and will contain all the latest Coin, Medal & Token listings for that particular week.

The more observant of you may have realised that I no longer keep previous "Fresh Listings" coins on this page.

All coins can be found via the category grid on the front page as can most sold coins - there's a new link purely for sold coins to be found there.

Additions to www.HistoryInCoins.com for week commencing Tuesday 23rd July 2024

I'm away for a week so next additions Tuesday 6th August.

...by the way, you'll want to check in on the 6th as there are a couple of absolutely outstanding coins destined to hit this page!!!!!

This week's fresh listings:

WMH-8135: Henry II Cross & Crosslets TEALBY Medieval Hammered Silver Penny. Class C2, 1163-67. Canterbury mint - either [+RAVL]F:ON:C[ANT] or [+WIUL]F:ON:C[ANT]. Spink 1339. Struck on an irregular (square) flan, which Canterbury is well know for on the Tealby issues. Good provenance. £545

Provenance:

Ex Elmore Jones collection (sold Spring 1971)

Ex John Cummings (1985)

Ex Michael Trenerry (2023)

WMH-8136: Richard II Medieval Hammered Silver Penny. A most interesting Non-Regal (contemporary counterfeit) of a London penny based upon Spink 1686. Very clear regnal name and nearly as clear a reverse mint signature. Of apparent good silver content (certainly rings like any other decent quality contemporary penny) and a nice 1.01 grams weight. A particularly unflattering portrait, showing Richard with something of a trunk for a nose (I'm not aware that the man himself possessed such a proboscis in the flesh?!) It is not often - not often at all - that we see such good grade contemporary counterfeits surviving through to today. All in all, a good quality and extremely interesting coin in excellent grade. £335

Provenance:

Ex Mike Vosper

WTH-8137: Henry VIII Hammered Silver Early Groat. First coinage of 1509-26, initial mark Portcullis, portrait of his father, Henry VII. London mint, Spink 2316, a single issue unless you count the Tournai groat, one of which find its way onto this site in the next few weeks. The initial photograph is atrocious, giving the coin a leaden appearance that is completely unjustified. See here for a more representative camera-phone image, although even that isn't great. Some coins just don't like having their picture taken! £525

WTH-8138: Edward VI Hammered Silver DURHAM HOUSE Shilling. Second debased issue, initial mark Bow, undated but circa 1548-50. Durham House. Spink 2472. Old (unidentified) tickets from someone who knew what they were doing: correctly identified as on the tickets...type 5 bust 2. See Bispham classification in BNJ 1985, table 4, pgs 138-9 & plate 2, #6. Bispham gave Durham House dies a separate classification from the Tower dies. Thank you to Rich Mooney's numismatic expertise (and Joe Bisphan's!) on this one. Only the second Durham House shilling I have ever had and this one the better of the two. A rarer coin in very nice grade for issue. £745

Provenance:

Ex Ian Davidson (yellow ticket)

Ex ??? (old tickets)

WTH-8139: Edward VI Hammered FINE Silver Sixpence; the Great Re-coinage of 1696! Fine silver issue of 1551-3, initial mark y, London mint, Spink 2483. A pleasing example of this attractive and sought after issue which is rarer than the shillings and, just like the shillings, often presents as problematic - damaged, bent, worn etc. Some damage is undoubtedly down to a very sceptical public in 1550 who had lived through 50+ years of debased coinage thanks to Henry VIII. They would be disbelieving of these fine silver coins and so would bite them and bend them to test they weren't fakes. This coin is centrally pierced but this was not a product of a wary public, rather it was pierced intentionally at the mint, under the governance of Sir Isaac Newton himself, in 1696 at the Great Re-Coinage. Hammered coinage in England was phased out at the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and was officially ended in 1662 with the introduction of Charles II milled silver coins. Whilst no more hammered coins were minted post 1662, the old hammered coinage was still legal tender; hammered and milled running side by side, although much of it was battered and bruised through shear over-usage, not to mention seriously underweight through clipping. In 1696, although hammered coinage was still popular with the public, it was decided that enough was enough – all circulating hammered coinage was to be assessed by the mint. Anything substandard was to be exchanged for the new milled coinage and anything in high enough grade and, most importantly, of the correct weight, was allowed to circulate for a few years more. This latter cohort was identified as “of still legal tender” by the addition of a central punch or piercing administered by the mint. There were problems, as one would perhaps expect with such a huge national undertaking:

1. Due to the mint’s promise of a like-for-like value replacement, regardless of condition, many enterprising individuals, before submitting for exchange, clipped their hammered coinage further still, retaining the silver shavings to be utilised for effectively what was free money later on.

2. As a direct result of this extra clipping, together with the high cost of minting the new milled coinage, the government lost a great deal of money – nearly £3 million.

3. The timing was appalling – the new milled money was not ready in time for an exchange. Riots threatened and there was great public unrest until the government bridged the period by issuing paper notes.

4. The infamous Window Tax, of which we’re all still cognisant of today, was introduced specifically to pay for this near £3 million financial black hole. There have been some bad government taxes over the years, but a window tax?!

Bearing in mind there were not actually that many hammered coins that passed the grade in 1696 (the process was actually 1696-99), together with the fact that post 1699, whenever a pierced hammered coin passed through the hands of officialdom, it would inevitably be withdrawn, it’s perhaps easy to see why these coins are rare. You really don’t see than many of them. Georgian and Victorian gentlemen collectors would not be interested in pierced coins (for goodness’ sake, these were the people who mutilated the Cromwell crowns by smoothing over the infamous die flaw because they couldn’t live with them as they were!!), which is another reason why these extremely interesting coins are so rare. £550

WTH-8140: 1554 Philip & Mary Hammered Silver Facing Busts Shilling. Full titles, a very clear date and mark of value, no initial mark - Spink 2500. A revolutionary design at the time but then it was revolutionary to have two monarchs ruling the country side by side, especially when one was Spanish. A very nice coin. £895

WJC-8141: Charles 1st Hammered Silver Shilling. Initial mark Bell, 1634-5, Tower (London) mint under Parliament. Group D, fourth bust, type 3a with no inner wire circles - Spink 2791. A good grade, centrally struck, unclipped coin from the very start of the troubles: the unpopular "Ship Money" taxation was imposed in 1634 and just three years later in 1637, under the influence of Archbishop Laud, Charles tried to impose the English Liturgy on the Scots who, true to form, raised an army to resist the imposition. So much history followed on from when this coin was struck. £295

WAu-8142: Charles II Gold Touch-Piece: Guaranteed to have been personally touched by King Charles II. John Roettier dies - type A, obverse 4, reverse 5. 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 VIII who initiated the design of St George and the dragon on subsequent Touching Ceremony gold coins. At the dawn of the Restoration, no other monarch in English history believed more in this divine right of kings than Charles II. A such, even though it meant being in the presence of the afflicted common people (it is estimated that 1% of the entire London population suffered during this time), Charles was an enthusiastic advocate of the Touching Ceremony. Charles 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-Tokens were collected and re-issued for the next Touching Ceremony, clearly the gold touch pieces were not. Some 79,200 people were touched by Charles II between 1664 and 1684 with around 200 sufferers being admitted to each ceremony with ceremonies on Fridays from 1st November to 18th December, then during January and February and for a month in Easter. It was suspended during the potential hot weather months to lessen the risk of spreading infection. It was around 400 people touched per year. During Charles’s exile under England’s Commonwealth, Charles had actually “touched” at Touching Ceremonies in the Low Countries using silver 10 shilling pieces, or whatever was available. Charles’s first Touching Ceremony as king was just four weeks after his return and weekly from then on – he felt it was that important; not for the sufferers, but entirely for himself and his personal profile. During that time, he again used any coinage that he had to hand, which clearly couldn’t be anything to do with Cromwell or the Commonwealth. It took four years before John Roettier designed and struck the official gold touch-pieces. In 1684, the size of the gold touch-pieces were reduced (the change from type A to type B). This touch-piece is one of the earlier type A, full weight examples at 54 grains. The value of these pieces was some 10 shillings so very few would have survived the temptation of being spent as currency and thus would be quickly melted down upon numerous currency recalls, not least upon the death of monarchs. This one looks to have bucked that trend and actually been used for what it was intended.

The last one I saw go through Spink (or it might have been DNW or CNG) was James II and it sold for £3.5K. Very rare indeed. £1,975 RESERVED