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 20^th April 2021

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

WTH-7049: 1601 Elizabeth 1^st Hammered Silver Sixpence. Initial mark 1 – final seventh issue, Spink 2585. 1601 as a date represents a frequency of 0.6% for the 2,716 recorded single finds of Elizabeth 1st coins and 0.7% for all 5,588 recorded Elizabeth 1st hoard coins. 1601 is the tenth rarest of all forty two dates. Ex Spink. A nice, clear date. £185

WJC-7050: 1604 James 1^st Silver Medal Commemorating Peace between England & Spain. Hilliard. 34mm, 12.22 grams. Medallic Illustration (i) 193/14, Eimer 84. Toned with (unusually) the loop still intact. This is the only medal on which James is styled King of England and Scotland. Ex DNW (2011), ex Kunker. Sold with three tickets. £395

WCA-7051: Charles II Hammered Silver Penny – Rarer SECOND Issue. 1660-62 and probably midway in that range at 1661. No inner circles. Spink 3320. Lovely grade with attractive toning. £165

WSax-7052: Aethelred II Late Saxon Hammered Silver *EXCESSIVELY RARE MINT* Penny. B.M.C. VIII – Helmet type, Spink 1152. Obv: +AEÐELRED REX A.NG, Rev: +PVLFMER M’O GODA – Gothaburg (Castle Gotha) mint – (presumed) St Austell, Cornwall. Ex Spink, ex Doubleday, ex Argyll, ex Drabble, ex Talbot Ready, etc – an impressive provenance with some very well known names. Sold with old tickets. Stable crack at 5 o’clock in which no light shows through. An extremely rare coin. £2,150

WMH-7053: Edward 1^st Medieval Hammered Silver Penny. Class 10a, VILL NOV CAS TRI – Newcastle Mint. Spink 1409/1428. Rare mint. £95

WSC-7054: David II Medieval Scottish Hammered Silver Groat. Second coinage, VILL AA BER DON – rare Aberdeen mint. Spink 5103. Ex Murrey, ex Spink, ex Carlyon-Britton, ex Parsons, ex Glendinings, etc. An impressive provenance with some very well known names. Attractively toned, especially on the reverse. Sold with old tickets. Spink 5103. The last Aberdeen mint David II groat I saw go through auction achieved a hammer price approaching two thousand and I can’t imagine it had as good a provenance as this one. £1,350

WSax-7055: Harold 1^st Late Saxon Hammered Silver Penny. B.M.C. V: Fleur-de-Lis type, c.1038-40, Spink 1165. +LEOFPINE ON ÐEO – Thetford mint. Sold with old tickets. EF grade and toned. Rare. £1,885

WMH-7056: Henry II Medieval Hammered Silver “Tealby” Penny. Class A, c.1158-63, (+RODBERT:) ON LER(C) – the rare Leicester mint. Die paired with B.M.C. 370. A very rare mint for this issue – even Spink acknowledge that it’s one of the rarest Tealby mints (although their pricing is, as ever, debatable to say the least) and it’s certainly the first I’ve ever come across. Ex Shuttlewood collection, ex Rist (old tickets here). Rare coin. £395

WMH-7048: Henry 1^st Hammered Silver Norman Round Halfpenny. Obverse: facing uncrowned head of Henry 1st, hair made up of seven fleur-like ringlets, inner and outer beaded circles with legend surrounding: +hENRIC REX, initial mark cross with orbed base. Reverse: +AILPINE ON PI – Ailwine (moneyer) of Winchester, central cross potent with groups of pellets in angles. Dark uneven tone with light porosity, fine and clear with distinctive style of head and fully readable, extremely rare denomination and the only example known of this moneyer, although this moneyer is recorded as issuing pence at Winchester. Spink 1277, North 872.

Provenance:

Found near Marlborough, Wiltshire, October 2001 (see The Searcher magazine, March 2002, pp.41-3, this coin).

Ex Dix Noonan and Webb, 19th June 2002, lot 135.

Ex Spink Coin Auction 183, 26th September 2006, lot 19.

Ex Spink Coin Auction, 26th September 2018, lot 370.

The round Halfpenny denomination of King Henry I first came to light 71 years ago, when respected professional numismatist Peter Seaby exhibited a coin of Winchester by the moneyer Godwine A at the British Numismatic Society on 1 March 1950 (North pl.16, 36 and Spink Standard Catalogue, p.135, coin now in the Fitzwilliam Museum). It took until 1989 for four more halfpence to emerge: Sandwich, Æthelbold (reverse struck from a type IX Penny die - now in Fitzwilliam Museum), and Hereford, Ailred (now in British Museum), both found together in spoil from Thames Exchange; Norwich(?),Thot, found in Norfolk (now in Fitzwilliam Museum); and York, Othbeorn, found near Newbury.

Other mints and moneyers discovered since include examples of Oxford, Ægelnoth; Wallingford, Osulf; and Wilton, Ailward (all in Fitzwilliam Museum); another Sandwich, Æthelbold, of regular type, found at Little Mongeham, Kent, September 1992; Winchester, Wimund, ex Baldwin Auction 7, 2nd May 1996, lot 517 and now also in the Fitzwilliam Museum; Lincoln, uncertain moneyer (only half a coin), found Newark 2004; Norwich, Thorstein, found Sutton Bridge 2009 (currently for sale in the US at $15,000); York, Forni, found north east Lincolnshire 2009; London, ---DRED, a fragmentary coin found Kent 2013; London, Thorreaed, found Tilbury 2014; Canterbury, Winedaeg, found Wherwell - pierced in three places; as well as three uncertain pieces. To summarise there are approximately only twenty examples recorded with around half either in museums or fragmentary. £7,950

WSax-7040: Aethelred II Late Saxon Hammered Silver Penny. Long Cross – BMC iva (AD 997 – 1003). +PYNSIGE MO EAXE – rarer Exeter mint, moneyer Wynsige. Crudely pierced top and bottom for use as a pendant in antiquity. SCBI 50 (Hermitage), 680 (same dies), North 774, Spink 1151. Ex Allan Williams’ collection, ex Morton & Eden, ex Spink. £195

WMH-7041: King John Medieval Hammered Silver Penny. +RENER ON LVND – London mint. Class 5b, 1199 – 1216. Spink 1352. Sold with a collectors information ticket which states the coin was found Romney Marsh (Kent) in 2019. A nice example with much detail. £135

WTH-7042: Rare Elizabeth 1^st Hammered Silver Groat. Initial mark Cross Crosslet – second issue, 1560-61, but F1. This is a rare variant, unrecorded on the BCW 2012 update, in that the reverse legend ends MEVM. Ex London auction, ex Michael Trennery 2015 (his ticket) where it passed into the magnificent Walter Wilkinson collection (his ticket). It was Walter Wilkinson who first recognised the unique aspect of this coin. The WW provenance alone makes this a highly desirable coin. Spink 2556var. Please note, the obverse and reverse of this coin are the same in appearance - my camera was clearly not up to the job! £295

WSC-7044: Alexander III Scottish Hammered Silver Penny. Second coinage, 1280-86. 23 points to the reverse stars - rarer Aberdeen mint town. Class Mc, Spink 5055. £185

WJC-7045: James II Hammered Silver Scottish Medieval Groat. Initial mark Crown, Edinburgh mint, second issue, Spink 5233. A generally poor issue for the entire reign with this coin being much above average. £675

WJC-7046: 1669 Charles II Scottish Silver Half Merk. 6s, 8d, struck under the first coinage. Spink 5614. Rarer en medaille die axis. £165

WJC-7047: 1721 Large Silver Jacobite Medal with Mercury Gilding. An impressive and high grade example of Jacobite propaganda. Designed by Otto Hamerani, the medal was for distribution among Jacobite followers with the intention of removing the Hanovarians from the British thrown and replacing them with the Stuarts – Prince James III, the Old Pretender. Medallic Illustration 454(ii)/63, Eimer 493. Eimer is now 21 years old so their £1,100 valuation is obviously not current. There has been considerable debate as to why Prince James is NOT mentioned by name, only appearance. One theory is that this medal was hoped to appeal not only to the Jacobites but also to the English anti Hanovarians, of whom there were plenty at this period. A superb example. £685

WMH-7037: Henry 1st Hammered Silver Norman Penny. B.M.C. 10 – full face / cross fleury type of AD 1117 only. +SIGAR : ON : LVII – London mint. Spink 1271. 20mm, 1.29g, 6h. The reign of Henry 1^st, though stable and successful in many ways, coincided with a period of monetary crisis, to the point where the general public had genuine concerns over the quality of the coinage leaving the mint. As a result of this, some of the public physically started to test the coinage themselves which obviously hindered the acceptance of what was genuine coinage even further. In a bold and unprecedented move, the government ordered ALL coinage to be mutilated at issue, thereby forcing the acceptance of damaged coins. This practice was ordered halfway through BMC 6 and it continued until BMC 14. It took the form of an edge incision or “snick”, as seen in this coin. For those that are interested, the government finally sought to put this problem to bed in 1124 by ordering a “purge of moneyers” throughout England! From this we get that the coinage of Henry 1^st was not great in quality (even type 15 coins, post purge, are generally poor) and that all coins from BMC 7-14 will have edge snicks. Sold with an old cabinet ticket as well as an information slip which states: From the Alan William’s Collection. Ex Spink Numismatic Circular (1992). Reportedly ex Mansfield Woodhouse hoard.” £495

WMH-7035: William 1^st Norman Hammered Silver Penny. B.M.C. 8 – PAXS type. Rare Nottingham mint. This is the final issue under William 1^st with some current debate as to whether this issue overlaps into the reign of William II. +PILLELM REX / +MIINII ON SNOTI. Toned and although described as VF on the modern ticket, I’d go further and say Good VF for issue because as this ticket points out, ALL examples of this die are weekly struck below the bust. Spink 1257, North 850, Mack 1349 (not surprisingly, this coin). Bought Spink and subsequently sold into the famous R.P. Mack collection October 1953. Glendinnings in November 1975 dispersed the collection. Old tickets here. Very rare. £2,375

WI-7030: Irish Henry VII Hammered Silver *CHOICE* Groat. Late portrait issue of 1496-1505. Dublin mint – type 1A: arched crown with bust breaking the plain tressure. Spink 6455. As you will undoubtedly be aware, these issues are nearly always problematic – double strikes (particularly the reverses), poor strikes, damages etc. This is a superb example and easily choice for issue. £795

WAu-7031: Richard II Hammered Gold Noble. Type IIIC, Calais, RICA|RD:DI:GR:REX:ANG:Z.FRANC:DNS:HIB Z AQ – French titles resumed. 7.05 grams, 2h, initial marl cross pattee. Spink 1663. Only two other altered die types have been offered on any global platform this millennium. Ex Sir Rodney Sweetnam, KCVO, CB, ex Spink. Sold with an extremely comprehensive auction ticket. VF grade. £6,550

This Week’s Listings

WMH-7057: Henry 1^st NORMAN Hammered Silver Penny. Star in Lozenge Fleury - B.M.C. 13, circa 1121 only. +GODRIC of Bury St Edmonds mint. There is only one other coin of this moneyer / mint / type recorded on the EMC / SCBI database and more impressively, only TWO Bury St Edmonds type 13 coins of ANY moneyer recorded. Spink 1274. A rare coin. £1,249

WMH-7058: King John Hammered Silver Voided Short Cross Penny. Class 5b. +RICARD of Winchester mint. Spink 1351. Uncommon mint. £145

WMH-7059: Henry III Hammered Silver Voided Short Cross Penny. Class 7a. +RAVF of Bury St Edmonds mint. Spink 1356a. Uncommon mint. £49

WMH-7060: Henry III Hammered Silver Voided Long Cross Penny. Class 3c – “Provincial Phase”. +NICOLE of Canterbury mint. Spink 1364. The king has no sceptre. £49

WJC-7061: James 1^st Hammered Silver Half Penny - Choice. Third coinage, 1619-25. Spink 2673. A superb example. £95

WJC-7062: 1638 Silver Medal – Prince Charles Invested into the Order of the Garter. As symbolic as you’d perhaps expect from this period, this is an interesting medal depicting entry into that rather exclusive club that still exists today.

Membership is limited to the monarch and his / her first-born and up to 24 “companions” - along the lines of Dr Who. Charles 1^st as monarch in 1638 and Prince Charles (the future Charles II, once Oliver Cromwell had gone away) were automatic members. Then and now, the lucky recipients were / are hand picked by the monarch. Today the Order of The Garter is open to women, although it has to be said that there are currently only three of those. In 2018, 2019 and 2020, three members sadly died (all men), meaning that there are currently three vacancies should any reader be interested. More recent members include Sir Winston Churchill and Sir John Major, the latter being an ex Prime Minister, although perhaps more famous for his avatar appearing on Spitting Image in the 1990’s with some peas. Eimer 131 (£500 /£900, 21 years ago back in 2000), Medallic Illustrations (i) 282/88. An interesting piece of British history. £645

WSC-7063: Charles 1^st Scottish Hammered Silver Twelve Shillings. Third coinage, 1637-42. Type IV, Falconer’s second coinage – thistle preceding the obverse legend; F following. Spink 5561. John Falconer succeeded Nicolas Briot, his father-in-law, as Master of the Scottish Mint in 1646, having worked alongside his mentor for several years. Technically, third coinage coins are not hammered, rather produced via mill and screw presses. The dies were also superior. An attractive coin. £395