This week’s fresh listings (scroll down):

 

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

 

Additions to www.HistoryInCoins.com for week commencing Tuesday 27th September 2022

 

 

Previous Weeks’ Listings (scroll down this page for “This Week’s Listings”):

 

 

WSax-7538:  Harold Godwinson II Very Late Saxon Hammered Silver Penny.  B.M.C.1 type – PAX across reverse field.  +HAROLD REX AN and +GODRIC ON HVNI.    This is the very rare Huntingdon mint – so rare that there is only a single example of B.M.C.1 recorded on the EMC / SCBI database and that coin is this coin – reference EMC 2021.0006 (found Great Paxton August 2020).1.24g, lightly toned, minor soil scratch across the mouth.  A unique coin according to the database.  £4,850

 

WMH-7539:  Henry V Class A “EMACIATED” Bust Medieval Hammered Silver Penny.  The rarest of all the Henry V classes of penny, regardless of mint (this is London mint – the only mint to issue the emaciated bust), and by some margin.  Spink 1777.  You’re probably wondering where the image is of the reverse?  If you flip the coin, you get this: Richard II York penny!!  Spink 1690.  This is in fact a mini hoard or, more accurately, a purse loss.  Found by a detectorist in the very early days of detecting (1980’s?) and never offered on the open market until now.  This purse loss / hoard consists of three coins – I’ve included extra images here and here.  They have fused together in the soil over the last 600 years and have never been tampered with in order to split the coins.  If you know what you’re doing, and more importantly, want to do it, I can’t imagine it’s going to be difficult to separate the coins.  Incidentally, Henry IV lies bang in the middle of Richard II and Henry V!!  A rare opportunity to not only acquire a genuine purse loss / hoard but also to obtain a superb grade Henry V emaciated bust penny – that coin alone will be a four figure coin in today’s market.  And you never know, an equally high grade Henry IV penny could be hiding in the middle?!  Don’t miss out on this one.  £945

 

WMH-7529:  Edward III Hammered Silver Medieval Groat.  Fourth coinage, pre-treaty period, class F, Spink 1569.  London mint, initial mark Crown which dates this to 1356 only.  A really nice example of this key coin.  £325

 

WMH-7530:  Richard II Hammered Silver Medieval Groat.  Group 1, London mint, initial mark Cross Pattee, Spink 1678.  Lord Stewartby states that whilst production of gold throughout the reign remained constant, silver was somewhat erratic and far from prolific.  During the reign of Richard II (even at the end of Edward III), and most definitely going through the subsequent reign of Henry IV, silver was haemorrhaging out of England to the Continent at an alarming rate which was compounded by the fact that the country was far from awash with silver in the first place - the price of silver on the Continent was greater than in England and cross-channel merchants were quick to take advantage.  A very nice grade coin for issue – this example was recently through Baldwins’ and really isn’t that much better.  As in the Baldwins’ example, the regnal name is as clear as anything.  Rare coin.  £1,050

 

WTH-7532:  Henry VII Hammered Silver Tudor Groat.  Facing bust issue, class IVa, Spink 2200.  London mint, initial mark Cross Crosslet.  Ex Lingford collection with his old ticket.  £435

 

WMH-7494:  Henry IV Hammered Silver Long Cross Plantagenet Penny.  Light Coinage, 1412 – 1413 only.  Struck under Archbishop Bower at York.  “Light” coinage for a reason – the authorities were so short of silver that they simply issued new coinage using less silver, something Henry VIII was very much in favour of 130 years down the road.  Although silver was in seriously short supply in England during the reign of Henry IV (and during Richard II & Henry V), in Easter of 1412 silver experienced a further dramatic increase in price.  Old coinage in circulation (Henry IV heavy issues and older) was clipped to within an inch of its life by enterprising individuals who risked much in undertaking that lucrative practise but interestingly, although an order was issued to the public to hand in their old coinage for reminting in November 1411, (they would be given the new coinage in exchange), hardly any was forthcoming because the new coinage was reduced in weight to the point where it was often the same weight as the clipped old coinage.  This meant that getting old silver coinage into the melting pot in order to make new coinage (buying in silver bullion being the other avenue) also didn’t work, the end result being hardly any new coinage being issued.  Henry IV Light Coinage is an extremely rare issue indeed.  This coin: exceptionally clear annulet below bust, regnal name discernable, reverse quatrefoil.  Spink 1734.  Ex Baldwins – auction slip and coin envelope.  £995

 

WTH-7495:  1549 Edward VI Hammered Silver Shilling.  Tower (London) mint, tall narrow bust with small crown, initial mark Arrow.  Spink 2466.  This coin ex Seaby stock where it sold in December 1981 for £135.  To put that into context, I’ve seen high grade William 1st PAXS pennies (and other coins) at a similar price from 40 years ago for sale today at just under (and likely over) £1,000.  Old ticket here.  A very nice coin.  £795

 

WI-7500:  Irish Edward IV Anonymous “Crown” Groat.  Edward IV first reign coinage of 1460-63.  Dublin mint.  Spink 6272.  Struck at 45 grains, an unusual specific weight unique to Ireland, being 75% that of the English groats, in an attempt to stem the flow of silver over to the Continent.  The anonymous aspect of this early issue was political, based entirely on the transfer of sovereignty from the Lancastrians to the Yorkists.  Large crown in tressure of arches with trefoils at the cusps / Long cross pattee, pellets in quarters with x2 extra annulets in second and fourth quarters.  Toned, crystalline with some minor edge loss.  Sold with an old auction slip together with a collector’s cabinet ticket.  A very rare, iconic coin.  £2,250

 

WSC-7346:  1605 Scottish Hammered Silver SIX SHILLINGS.  Post accession to the English throne.  Virtually identical to the English James 1st sixpence but this issue with initial mark Thistle only, as well as circulating at very much over six pennies (ratio of 12:1, similar to other denominations of this period) at six shillings.  Another difference, other than the Scottish issues being much, much rarer, is that they were more crudely made in both style and production.  Spink 5507.  As good as the Spink plate coin – the very best example they could find with their vast resources and connections to collections.  You might be interested in looking at this coin sold through CNG August 2022 – really not any better than the coin for sale on HistoryInCoins, and yet the CNG coin sold in the first few hours of it being listed for $6,750 and that’s before any add-ons.  There are no add-ons here as even postage is free!!  Chris Comber (of Wilkinson, Comber & Brown fame) was a great collector of these extremely rare coins.  I sold him two over a very long period (the only two I'd ever had prior to this), both of which were several grades below this coin.  They are a notoriously poor issue, if you are lucky enough to find one in the first place.  This one choice.  £2,950

 

WMH-7485:  Henry V Medieval Hammered Silver Penny.  1413-22, London mint, class F (mullet & trefoil by the crown), Spink 1780.  Henry of Agincourt fame (I pray thee, wish not one man more. By Jove, I am not covetous for gold, Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost; It yearns me not if men my garments wear; Such outward things dwell not in my desires: But if it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending soul alive.)  Excellent grade for issue.  £235

 

 


This Week’s Listings

 

 

WMH-7543:  Richard 1st Hammered Silver Short Cross Penny – Rare Mint.  Class 4b, ALEIN.ON DVR – Durham mint.  Spink 1348C.  High grade coin although clearly this one didn’t escape the clipper’s eye back in the day!  Richard 1st Durham pennies are very thin on the ground though.  £185

 

WMH-7544:  King John Hammered Silver Short Cross Penny – Very Rare Mint.  Class 4b, SIMON.ON RVLLA – Rhuddlam mint.  Spink p.169.  Initial mark Cross Pommee, group II, similar to the English Class 5, class iii.  Strong portrait, toned, described in the accompanying information slip as Very Fine, which is might well be, just, for issue.  £465

 

WMH-7545:  Henry V Hammered Silver Long Cross Penny – Choice.  Class G, no marks by the bust, London mint.  DI GRA obverse legend.  Spink 1781.  What a coin.  Superb.  £625 RESERVED

 

WMH-7546:  Henry V Hammered Silver Long Cross Halfpenny.  Class D, annulet and broken annulet by hair, London mint.  Spink 1795.  Toned.  £70

 

WMH-7547:  Henry VI Hammered Silver Long Cross Penny.  Cross-Pellet issue of 1454-61, Durham mint.  Spink 1941.  An Episcopal issue under Bishop Lawrence Booth at the Durham mint.  B by the neck, rings in the centre of the reverse.  Not an easy coin to source but an extremely difficult coin to source in this grade – rare thus.  Couple of old tickets, including Mike Vosper.  £285

 

WTH-7548:  Elizabeth 1st Hammered Silver Shilling.  Seventh (and final) issue, initial mark 2 (final) equating to 1602.  Spink 2584.  Sold with a detailed information slip together with a cabinet ticket.  Ex Cloudesely collection, ex Major Poll collection, ex St James Auction.  One of my more successful attempts at murdering a coin via my photography “skills” – it’s an awful representation with the actual coin in your hand being much better.  £325

 

WTH-7549:  Rare Elizabeth 1st Hammered Silver Penny.  Second issue, initial mark Cross Crosslet, Spink 2558.  Excellent grade but more significantly, this is the rare E:D:G:ROSA.SINE.SPINE variety, (should read SINE.SPINA.  This is recorded (indeed, there is also a SINE.SIE variety) but they are single dies and thus rare.  It’s the first I’ve ever had.  Interestingly, this SPINE die error was repeated in the sixth coinage on the penny, perhaps implying that some people never learn?!  £285

 

WI-7550:  1690 Irish Gun Money Full Crown.  James II emergency Civil War coinage of 1689-91.  Spink 6578.  Overstruck on the large Gun Money halfcrowns as by 1690, these were obsolete; replaced by the small size halfcrowns.  The obverse of the Gun Money crown (and it is just the crowns) has similarities to the earlier Charles 1st halfcrowns and crowns, which I’m sure was far from accidental.  It won’t have escaped readers’ attention that Gun Money coinage is currently riding high in terms of popularity.  After fleeing from England to France in 1688 – an effective abdication from the English throne – James II landed in Ireland March 1689 in order to promote his Catholic cause, something we are perhaps still living with today?!  He had insufficient funds to prosecute this war so the plan was to raise money by issuing base metal coinage in place of what would previously have been silver issues.  This was a less subtle example of the Quantitative Easing that we all witnessed a few years ago.  This coinage was set up with an intention for them to be exchanged for sterling coinage once the dust had settled.  This never happened.  The metal for these coins came from old cannon, bells and various other scrap metals that were termed “Gun Money”.  £285

 

WSC-7551:  James III Hammered Silver Scottish Groat.  Type VI, main issue of 1484-88.  Edinburgh mint.  Spink 5288.  24mm, 3.83g.  Toned and with a stain on the reverse.  Sold with a detailed information slip.  Extremely good grade for issue.  £1,395

 

WSC-7552:  1612 James VI Hammered Silver Scottish Six Shillings.  Post accession to the English throne, Spink 5508.  Scottish arms in the 1st and 4th reverse shield quarters.  Virtually identical to the English James 1st sixpence but this issue, with initial mark Thistle only, circulated at very much over six pennies (ratio of 12:1, similar to other Scottish denominations of this period) at six shillings.  Another difference, other than the Scottish issues being much, much rarer, is that they were more crudely made in both style and production.  1612 is one of the rarest English sixpence dates, which has absolutely nothing to do with the Scottish six shillings but is, perhaps, interesting never-the-less.  Ex Chris Comber collection, ex Shuttlewood collection and you can’t get much better provenance than that!  A very rare coin.  £1,095