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 for sale coins can be found via the category grid on the front
page. Most sold coins are now accessible via a new link on that same
category grid.
Additions to www.HistoryInCoins.com
for week commencing
WTH-9109:
Significant 1551
Edward VI Hammered Silver Sixpence. Third period, "Fine Silver" issue. Initial mark y so one of the very first coins
struck (circa 1551). This issue, coming
on the back of decades of Henry VIII coinage that didn't look like silver - and
actually didn't contain much silver - took the populace by surprise. Many were suspicious at handling this
unfamiliar looking coinage, often biting and bending it to test the
silver. However, much
more interesting than all that - this coin is a rare survivor of the 1696 Great
Recoinage. The Great Recoinage
was the first part in a two part process to remove all the old fashioned
hammered coinage, most of it clipped, worn and underweight, from British
circulation. The entire point of a coin
back then was that the silver content represented the actual value, so a badly clipped silver hammered penny was actually not worth
a penny anymore in real terms. Milled
currency, featuring milled edges as proof against clipping, had started some 30
years earlier at the start of the Restoration.
However, the earlier hammered coinage had been around for many, many
centuries and thus couldn’t be removed overnight. In 1696, all hammered currency had to be
assessed. Coins that were still “full
weight, of a presentable nature, with a piercing that conforms to the Act –
central, no metal loss; signs of having been in circulation for at least 50
years” (this last criteria presumably to protect against counterfeits), were
certified and allowed to circulate freely alongside the new milled coinage post
1696. All other hammered coins were
removed from circulation by exchanging them for the new milled currency. The sting in the tail was that the old
hammered currency was exchanged by weight, not value! In actual fact, the majority of hammered
coinage was effectively withdrawn from circulation under this process. This was, however, only a temporary stay of
execution as under George II, just a few decades later,
all hammered coinage was removed from circulation and legally made
non-currency. There are no exact
surviving records of numbers for this process but it was generally considered
to be far from a success economically for the state. Many centrally pierced hammered coins
probably ended up melted down as later collectors probably assumed the hole was
merely damage, making these few survivors even rarer. Sixpences turn up less frequently than
shillings, especially in this VF grade.
That, coupled with the Great Recoinage association, makes this an
extremely important and desirable coin. £445
Provenance
ex
WTH-9110:
1589 Elizabeth
1st Jetton or Medalet - DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA. As ever, much imagery: a pious Elizabeth 1st,
seated, holding a prayer book, and a reverse suggesting that £335
Provenance
ex S & B Coins (Simon Monks & Brian Reeds)1992
ex
WTH-9111: 1585 Elizabeth 1st Jetton
or Medalet - ASSISTANCE TO THE UNITED PROVINCES. As ever, much imagery: Elizabeth 1st,
enthroned, gives roses to two deputies - "THE SOUL IS SLAIN BY THE NECTAR
OF THE (ENGLISH) ROSE". The reverse
depicts two Spaniards eating hay along with a donkey and an ass: "I
DESPISE AMBROSIA; I EAT HAY". Medallic Illustrations 133/86, Dugn 3044. £335
Provenance
ex S & B Coins (Simon Monks & Brian Reeds)1995
ex
WTH-9112:
1586 Elizabeth
1st SILVER Jetton or Medalet - ASSISTANCE TO THE
UNITED PROVINCES. As ever, much
imagery: Elizabeth 1st, enthroned, attended by £495
Provenance
ex S & B Coins (Simon Monks & Brian Reeds)1997
ex
WJC-9113:
CHOICE 1646
Charles 1st Hammered Silver Shilling - BRIDGNORTH-on-SEVERN. Late declaration Civil War
coin. Initial mark Plume over a
very clear ligated BR, plumelet
before the king, XII behind. Reverse
with a scroll above the declaration. Bridgnorth-on-Servern. Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Bridgnorth-on-Severn
mints have a close association with £3,375