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 21st June 2022

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

WI-7414: 1683 High Grade Irish Charles II Copper Halfpenny. Armstrong & Legge’s Regal Coinage, Spink 6575. Easily VF for issue (£400 in Spink 2020). Sold with a detailed information slip. £285

WI-7415: Edward IV High Grade Medieval Hammered Silver Irish Penny. Second reign, Third “Light” Cross & Pellets coinage of 1473. Dublin mint, mullets by crown, quatrefoil in centre of reverse cross. Spink 6373K. 0.47g, which on the face of it appears very low. In fact, for Irish coinage (and a lot of Edward IV English pennies), this is a good weight as these were predominantly struck on small, very underweight flans, often as a money making initiative by the officials in charge. English pence during this period followed much the same path: Lord Stewartby (English Coins 1180 – 1551 by Spink, 2009) states: “The flow of ill-struck and often illegible pence from the (English) northern Episcopal mints continued unabated. (Archbishop) Thomas Rotherham of York was arrested by Richard in June 1483, but soon released.” The production of short flan, underweight coins (ie face value one penny but actual silver content some way below that) would obviously be financially lucrative for the person doing it. Archbishop Rotherham would appear to have got away with just that as he was released with all charges dropped. The practise continued on through to Richard’s reign in England AND Ireland. A high grade coin with an excellent portrait, being possibly even better than the Spink plate coin – the very best example they could lay their hands on with their vast black book of contacts. Most rare in this grade and with this much legend. £365

WJC-7416: Charles 1st Hammered Silver Stuart Halfcrown. Tower mint (London) under the King, group 2, type 2c. Spink 2771. CR either side of oval shield, initial mark Portcullis: 1633-34. Very good horse and rider. £255

WTH-7417: 1572 (2 over inverted 2) Elizabeth 1st Hammered Silver Threepence. Third and fourth issues (although Wilkinson, Comber & Brown go further by designated this as Third Coinage only), initial mark Ermine. Spink 2566. A really interesting die sinker’s error where the final 2 of the date was originally inverted or upside down. Quality control picked up on this (ie someone happened to notice it!) and so rather than start a new die from scratch, they simply put a correctly orientated 2 over the top of the error. This is a single die (you’ll be pleased to hear the mistake was not repeated!) and can be chronologically attributed to the very first issue of 1572, ie 19^th April onwards. £185

WTH-7418: 1568 Elizabeth 1st Hammered Silver Threepence in Higher Grade. Third and fourth issues (although Wilkinson, Comber & Brown go further by designated this as Third Coinage only), initial mark Coronet. Spink 2566. I’ve been asked several times about the odd looking 8 in 1568 coinage. It looks for all it’s worth to be an 8 over 7, but in fact they are all straight 68 dates unless you can see the ghosting of the angled diagonal of the 7 under the 8. The die sinkers simply gave the 8 a flat top. This coin benefits from yet another unusual feather in that the bottom circle of the 8 is broken! There is a rarer variety where the flat top of the 8 is on the bottom, ie an inverted 8 but interestingly, this coin is actually rarer than the inverted 8 3d types! 1568 threepences utilised only three dies – 68/7 (the 8 being inverted), 68 (the 8 being inverted), and a 1568 with “normal” flat topped 8, meaning the flat topped 8 1568 threepence is rarer by 2:1. An interesting coin and much, much better grade than normally seen. £225

WTH-7419: Very Rare Elizabeth 1st Hammered Silver FIRST ISSUE Shilling. Wire inner circles only, bust 1B, initial mark Lis: 1^st January 1559 to the Spring of 1560. Spink 2548. A great rarity in the series and one that when it des turn up, which is hardly ever, invariably has issues, or at the very least is much worn through a combination of a poor obverse die (ie insufficient definition / depth on the portrait) and much circulation. Sold with an old information slip and a cabinet ticket. Ex Cappozzolo collection. £745 RESERVED

WTH-7420: Henry VIII Hammered Silver 1st Coinage Halfpenny – As Struck. Initial mark Portcullis, 1509-26, Spink 2334. London mint, type Bd. A superb, choice example. £265 RESERVED

WTH-7421: Henry VII Hammered Silver Tudor Groat. Class IIa, London mint, im Cinquefoil (1489-93), Spink 2195. A handsome coin with an accompanying old Baldwin ticket. £295 RESERVED

WMH-7422: Edward 1^st VOIDED LONG CROSS Hammered Silver Medieval Penny. Class 6. ION of Bury St Edmonds, non crude dies, Spink 1377. Termed “Phase IV, Posthumous” but even though it was struck in Henry’s name, Henry was dead when this coin was struck (1272-79) and Edward 1^st was on the throne. For once, this is probably not a Brussels’ Hoard coin (no mention on the ticket), which may well account for the extraordinarily good dies and grade of this coin. One of the best I’ve ever had. £245 SOLD

WMH-7403: Henry 1^st Norman Kings Hammered Silver Penny. Facing bust / cross fleury type – B.M.C 10. +SIGAR:ON LVN – London mint. Exceptionally clear legends and a good bust. Old Baldwin tickets here. Although clearly not in the same league as B.M.C 6, 8, etc, this is, in my humble opinion, a rarer type coin than Spink suggest – for example, the Beauvaise Hoard, which was made up of many Norman coinsranging from William II to Stephen and the Angevins, contained x125 type 15 Henry 1^st coins compared to only x15 type 10 coins. A very good coin. £1,495 RESERVED

WTH-7404: Henry VII Hammered Silver Sovereign Penny – Excellent Provenance. A type IIc penny of York struck under Archbishop Rotherham. Spink 2237. Ex Lawrence, ex Carlyon-Britton, ex E.J. Harris, ex Lord Stewartby, ex Spink. All very famous numismatic names – and all wanting this humble offering in their impressive collections with Spink ultimately selling it on from the Stewartby collection – so if provenance is important to you, this is perhaps a coin for you. £189 RESERVED

WTH-7406: 1569 Elizabeth 1st Hammered Silver Sixpence. Third and fourth issues (although Wilkinson, Comber & Brown go further by designated this as Third Coinage only), initial mark Coronet. Spink 2566. Here we have another interesting feature – the 6 and the 9 of the date have corresponding broken circles and look identical to each other when rotated. Further, 1569 threepences are identical. I should caveat this by saying most 1569 sixpences and threepences have this feature as you never know for sure! Sorry to disappoint, but the die sinker did not use the same 6 die to create the 9 in the date – both the 6 and 9 were similarly flawed. However, what is interesting is the 69 part of the sixpence date has been stamped on this coin using the 69 die from the threepence – note the size difference!! This would strongly imply that 15— sixpences were struck in 1568 (or maybe even further back?) where the penultimate two digits were purposefully omitted in order to be either stamped 68, if the 1568 die broke before the next year ticked over, or 1569 if the year did tick over. This is a recorded practise for other years although I wasn’t aware of it for this year – Wilkinson, Comber & Brown did not acknowledge it. An even more interesting coin. £185 RESERVED

WTH-7407: 1574 dated Elizabeth 1st / Mary, Queen of Scots Jetton or Medalet. Crowned lion rampant, left, in garter / Crowned French coat of arms between two crowned pillars, all within double cornucopia. Medallic Illustrations 121(i)/58, Mitchiner 4595. Medallic Illustrations state: “…cast, crude, badly executed and unintelligible. It was issued probably by some ignorant partisan of Mary, Queen of Scots, for to her alone does the device seem to have any reference.” There were an entire series of these things issued, all centred around London in the 1570’s, although this is the most impressive by far, and the only dated type. Ex Walter Wilkinson, ex C.H. Comber, ex R.A. Shuttlewood, ex D.J. de S. Rogers collections. All very famous numismatic names – and all wanting this humble offering in their impressive collections – so if provenance is important to you, this is perhaps for you. £295 RESERVED

WTH-7408: 1586 over 5 Elizabeth 1st Hammered Silver Sixpence. Sixth issue, initial mark Escallop. Spink 2578A. 1586 as a date represents a frequency of 0.5% for the 2,716 recorded single finds of Elizabeth 1st coins and 0.5% for all 5,588 recorded Elizabeth 1st hoard coins. 1586 is the seventh rarest of all forty two dates. A nice, clear overdate where the 1585 die was still going strong when the year ticked over thus they simply altered the final digit from 5 to 6. An interesting thing of note here is as follows: 1585 (only the twentieth rarest date, so many more of these were struck than 1586 sixpences) had only a single die in use, and clearly that die outlived 1585, making it some sort of super-die in terms of longevity!! In 1586, not only did they utilise this old super-die, they also used a straight 86 die as well. I suspect that 1585/6 is a rarer animal than the straight 1586 sixpence. Ex Spink. A very rare date in the series and yet another interesting point of interest. £225 RESERVED

WJC-7409: 1624 James 1st Hammered Silver Dated Sixpence. Third (and final) third coinage (and indeed, the very last date in the reign), initial mark Lis, Spink 2670. A much rarer date (all you ever see these days are 1603, 04 and perhaps 05), but of more importance here is the grade. This entire issue is badly executed, both in terms of dies and strike, as well as invariably being in low grade through excessive circulation. This coin is excellent for issue. £295 RESERVED

WJC-7410: Charles 1st Hammered Silver Halfcrown. Initial mark Triangle, 1639-40. Tower mint (London) under the king, type 3a2 with rough ground under the horse. Spink 2776. Amazing weight for issue with nearly all that I’ve seen being under 15g. Please note, the coin is not really a copper colour – I freely admit my skill set, if I have one at all, does not lie in photography. £195

WJC-7411: Charles 1st Hammered Silver Half Penny. No initial mark and no legends. Tower mint under the king, Spink 2851. A high grade example of the smallest denomination for the reign. £95 RESERVED

WI-7412: 1689 Irish Civil War Emergency Coinage “Gun Money” Sixpence. Struck in Dublin July of 1689. The sixpence is a rarer denomination than the shillings and halfcrowns – you seldom see them today. 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. If today’s money had still been based on the value of the coin in your hand being worth its face value in precious metal, then the Chancellor in 2009 would perhaps have done something very similar! This coinage was (perhaps) 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”. Very nice grade, the rarer “no stop after DEI” variety, and benefiting from being ex John Rainey collection. £125

WSC-7413: James VI Scottish Hammered Silver Eightpenny Groat. Coinage of 1583-90, being before James VI took on the English throne after the death of Elizabeth 1^st in 1604. Edinburgh mint. An issue of 0.25 fineness. Not quite as good as the better example I have listed but certainly getting there. £185

WI-7398: Irish Charles 1^st “Great Rebellion” Hammered Silver Ormonde Full Crown. Issued by the Lords Justices at Dublin and termed Ormond Money due to the Earl of Ormonde being appointed Lieutenant of Ireland in 1643. This issue demonstrated allegiance to the monarch by incorporating the king’s crown on the obverse. AR Crown, being the largest denomination issued. NGC slabbed and graded EF40. See extra image here. Very rarely encountered in this high grade. Ex Herritage Auctions (2014 - $1,400 + commissions), ex David Hoover collection, ex Spink. Choice. £1,985

WJC-7399: 1642 Charles 1^st Hammered Silver Shrewsbury Declaration Half Pound. Ten shillings, three Shrewsbury plumes above the declaration. A huge and heavy silver coin, being larger even than the later 1797 cartwheel twopence! Slabbed by NGC and graded, rather conservatively it has to be said, VF 30. Spink 2924, North 2368, Brooker 804, Morris F-3. Ex H.A.Parsons collection (sold Glendinings 11^th May 1954 as lot 457 – see here and here). There were only two examples in that famous collection, this being the better of the two. The obverse die flaw is seen on all examples. Extra images here and here showing both sides of the slab and the accompanying ticket. Lay-Away with instalments welcomed. £6,275

WJC-7400: 1644 Charles 1^st Hammered Silver Bristol Declaration Half Crown. Initial mark Plume with Shrewsbury plume behind the king on horseback. No ground line. Bristol. Spink 3007. See old tickets here: ex Osborne (1951), ex Alan Morris, ex Lloyd Bennet (2012 - £550). Much above average for issue and with a good, long provenance. £1,295

WJC-7401: 1644 Charles 1^st Hammered Silver Oxford Declaration Half Groat. Initial mark Lis with three Lis over the declaration. Small bust, Spink 2997. Oxford. VF+, toned and indeed, virtually “as-struck”, as it left the mint. Die flaw (raised line of silver) behind the king’s head. Brooker had only two examples (one without the reverse declaration). His single declaration example was not nearly as good as this one. See old tickets here: ex Seaby, bought Hullet (his ticket) 1983 (£120), ex DNW 2019 (lot 73, £440 plus commissions). A small denomination – but ask yourself, just how many of these do you see, or indeed, have you ever seen? – on a full flan, in high grade, and problem-free. Choice. £595 RESERVED

WJC-7402: Charles 1^st Hammered Silver Oxford Penny. Provincial Civil War issue of Oxford, 1642-65. Initial mark Lis with large reverse Plume. The rarer Rawlins’ die variety (rarest of all the five Oxford pennies, bar, of course, the declaration type), Spink 3000. Oxford. Die flaw (raised line of silver) behind the king’s head. Brooker had only three examples (unbelievably, one with the reverse declaration!) but of the two similar examples illustrated in his collection, this one is much better than one and on a par with the other – both this coin and Brooker’s best being VF+, toned and indeed, virtually “as-struck”, as they left the mint. Ex Eric Evans’ collection, 1976 (see ticket here). A small denomination – but ask yourself, just how many of these do you see, or indeed, have you ever seen? – on a full flan, in high grade, and problem-free. £950 in Spink 2022. Comparable to the Spink plate coin, that being the very best example they could source from their vast directory of connections. Choice and rare. £995 RESERVED

WSC-7395: Robert 1^st The Bruce Scottish Hammered Silver Hoard Penny. 1306-29. Crowned head left, sceptre before, beaded circles and legend surrounding, +:ROBERTVS: DEI: GRA:, rev. long cross pattee, pierced mullet of five points in each quarter, beaded circles +SCO TOR Vm R EX, weight 1.32g (Burns 2; Spink 5076). The star coin in the 2009 Drayton Hoard – over a kilo of predominantly English medieval pennies. The hoard was likely deposited in 1353; the last issue to be found in the hoard was an Edward III pre treaty York penny. Only 34 coins out of the many thousands were Scottish. The British Museum undertook a cursory examination and cleanup of the hoard but were unable to devote the necessary resources and time for a full study. The coins were thereby returned to the finder under the Treasure Act where they were later sold. A direct descendant of David 1^st, Robert Bruce was crowned in 1306, on the back of ten turbulent years with various armies moving backwards and forwards over Scotland. In 1318, Bruce’s reign saw the gradual repossession of the kingdom, partly from the English and partly from Scottish rivals. It is likely that no coinage was struck for Robert Bruce until 1320. Only three recorded dies, this one being Burns 2: the barred A die. All Robert Bruce coinage is very rare but interestingly, although his coinage basically copied that of Alexander III, whereas Alexander’s coinage is often found VF or better, Robert Bruce’s coinage (on the rare occasions you do actually see an example) invariably turns up worn or damaged / pierced. This coin is much above average for issue. That, coupled with the all important provenance, makes this coin extremely significant and desirable. £2,200 RESERVED

WMH-7396: William II “Rufus” Hammered Silver Norman Penny. Cross fleury and piles issue (B.M.C. V) of 1098 – 1100 only. +ASCIL.ON.[L]I[N]CO. Spink 1262. Extra image here. This final issue is the rarest of all five William II types, being only 9% of all recorded coins, including fragments and mules, for EMC + SCBI. The EMC alone has type V at 8% with the nest rarest, type IV, at 10%. Further, the money and type combination is also rare. £1,945

WMH-7397: Henry III Voided Long Cross Penny. A really interesting coin and one I do not recall ever having seen before. Of copper appearance (certainly not silver, or at least if there is any silver in the alloy, it is minimal) with a crude bust and generally meaningless legends. A contemporary counterfeit of the Provincial Phase (1248-50) coinage of Henry III. We hear that counterfeiting was a problem; indeed the Normans even went to the trouble of cutting most issues of Henry 1^st coinage to show the public that the entire coin was silver, but how many do we actually see today? Perhaps the answer lies in a thoroughly effective and efficient policing of coinage, with all non regal issues being immediately stamped upon? More likely is that these coins, being base metal, and poor base metal at that, simply have not survived in the ground over the last 1000 odd years. However, this coin was a field-find and looks to have survived remarkably well. A rare and affordable coin, and you don’t see many of those these days. £155 RESERVED

WI-7397: Henry VIII Irish Hammered Billon Silver Groat. Circulating as a Sixpenny Groat. Fifth “Harp” issue, being 0.500 finesse (fourth issue was 0.666, sixth issue 0.250 - you can see the direction of travel here). What makes this coin so collectable is the addition of 37 at the end of the reverse legend. This was to signify the 37^th year of Henry’s reign, making the exact date on this coin to be 1546. It is absolutely the first dated coin, through numerals, to be struck in the UK. Spink 6483A, 2.58g / 8h. A crescent crack a 12 o’clock, otherwise in remarkably good grade – they are a debased issue and were not the best even when they were struck. Thus for issue, this is very good indeed – just look at the state of the Spink plate coin, which was presumably the best they could find to photograph. Extra image here. I’ve seen a few and owned one other – all have had an indifferent 37 and were lower grade. A rare coin. £565 RESERVED

This Week’s Listings

WMH-7423: Henry IV Hammered Silver Medieval Penny. Heavy Coinage, 1399 - 1412. 0.95g. York mint, Spink 1722. An Episcopal issue under Archbishop Scrope, dated to 1405 only. During the entire reign of Henry IV, but particularly the Heavy Coinage, gold was in short supply (just £45,000 bullion for this 13 year period) but silver coinage was much more seriously impacted with only £1,750 of silver being available up to Michaelmus 1408, with nothing thereafter. Further, not only was hardly any Heavy Coinage silver issued, but what was issued was literally worth more than its face value and so ended up on the Continent where it was melted down. This imbalance straddled the very tail end of Edward III, continuing up to and including the first issue of Henry V, although the Henry IV period, particularly the Heavy Coinage, was the worst affected. Full flan, good weight, good detail, including reignal name. The coin has an uneven or wavy flan and is a field-find with much dirt still adhering to the coin. An unadulterated, honest coin. Sold with a two page Finds.org.uk report which provides a wealth of information as well as provenance. A choice example of a particularly difficult coin that, if you are lucky enough to source one, will invariably be in poor grade and problematic. £1,950

WCom-7424: 1655 Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth Hammered Silver Sixpence. Initial mark Sun, struck under the Protectorship of Oliver Cromwell, Spink 3219, ESC 1491. 2.67g. Slabbed by NGC with VF20 grading. For full disclosure, the coin has two planchet issues (the preparation of the blank; pre hammering) where daylight passed through. This is entirely contemporary and was how the coin left the mint. This is a very rare, key date in the entire Commonwealth sixpence series. 1655 is the rarest date other than 1657 and 1659, and there are miniscule examples of those two dates extant – if you find either for sale, contact me as I’m a buyer! ESC conservatively rates 1655 at R3. It is approximately 3 to 4 times rarer than the 1658 anchor and slightly rarer than the 1660 anchor. Previous examples of 1655 sixpences have all been problematic: brittle, seemingly billon looking and generally just poor metal, although it’s difficult to find more than a very small handful. There was no fresh silver in 1655 available to the Protectorship from captured foreign ships etc, so a working theory is that the 1655 coins were struck using the previous year’s left over silver, as well as any reclaimed early dated coins that could be melted down. This re-use of the silver alloy, possibly losing alloy elements, or even adding to them along the way, might just account for this poor appearance. Collectors will be aware than anchor silver coinage often has a similar appearance. An exceedingly rare date and one which very, very few people will have in their collections. Thanks, as ever, to the wonderful Sun & Anchor website. £1,850 RESERVED

WAu-7425: 1657 Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth Hammered Gold Unite. Initial mark Sun, struck under the Protectorship of Oliver Cromwell, Spink 3208, EGC 29. 8.97 grams. Old auction image here as I struggle to photograph encapsulated coins. Fifteen leaf laurels, rated R4. Slabbed by NGC and graded AU detail (toned with only light wear to the high points) with a small cleaned area to the left of XX where a spot has been removed. The correct grading is a bold VF. This is a very rare date – only 1655 is rarer in terms of Sun unites. The subscription coin archives only give two examples sold in the last 20 years, this coin being one of them, the other to a major collection. Ex Spink Auctions (26^th March, 2008, lot 840), ex Sincona British Collection (21^st November 2021, lot 622). Much commoner date Commonwealth unites are now achieving £20,000+ at auction. This is an extremely rare with very few examples being in private ownership. Thanks, as ever, to the wonderful Sun & Anchor website. £21,995 RESERVED