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 Tuesday 10th February 2026
WSC-9263: Choice Alexander III
Scottish Medieval Hammered Silver FARTHING.
Second coinage of 1280-86. This farthing was the first to be seen in Scotland. Four mullets, each of x6 points, as per the
penny, but with a reverse legend reading an abbreviated
:SCOTORVM. S.R.5063. It is interesting
to note that the halfpenny, obviously lying in between the penny and farthing
in value, differentiated itself by only having two mullets, each of x6
points. Actually a jolly good idea but
it put the pressure on the die sinkers to create a coin so small but having
virtually the same legends as the penny, bar just three letters. The obverse is a similar story - a reading of
ALEXANDER REX as opposed to ALEXANDER DEI GRA on the penny so again, we're only
talking about losing three letters and one of those is an I,
so would take up minimal space.
Incidentally, there is a variety of farthing having the full penny
obverse legend, although I've never seen one.
Some of the early contemporary Edward 1st English farthings have dies as
accomplished as those on this coin so I suspect there was some sort of
collaboration either side of the border in terms of personnel.
The reign of Alexander III was notable for
three major events. Firstly he was to succeed where his father, Alexander II,
had failed in ridding the Western Isles of Scotland of Norse influence.
Secondly, he was to make one Scottish family - the MacDonald clan - so powerful
that they would be a rival to the future kings of Scotland in influence. Thirdly,
dying with no heir was to plunge Scotland into a succession
crisis that would ultimately lead to war with England. It was an unfortunate death - he rode his
horse over a cliff in the dark - and an inopportune death in that his wife, who
was pregnant with the heir to the throne at the time of Alexander's death, gave
birth to a still-born child. After those
tragic events came John Baliol, Robert the Bruce and
the English ... and the rest is history.
Alexander III farthings are seldom encountered
but here, we have one that is full flan, perfectly centred obv
& rev, full and clear legends, strong portrait and beautifully toned. Clearly choice and easily the best example
I've seen, and by quite some margin. 
£995
WSC-9264: Rare Mint David II Scottish
Medieval Hammered Silver Groat. Second coinage, 1357-67.
A small, young bust. Class A5/B mule, VILLA ABERDOn
- Aberdeen mint. S.R.5103. Edinburgh was by far the main
mint with literally just a trickle of coinage emanating from the provincial Aberdeen mint. This reverse Aberdeen mint die (note the
ornate letter A's) is the only die used in that output, along with the obverse
die. That obverse die was used so
sparingly at Aberdeen that when the
provincial mint had struck the miniscule amount it was charged to supply, the
die was literally returned to Edinburgh where it continued to
be used for Edinburgh mint coinage. We can only assume that the reverse Aberdeen mint was also far from
at the end of its life when minting ceased.
If we take the extremely well respected Brown, Comber and Wilkinson
research on Elizabeth 1st sixpence dies (they looked at single die coins
across the board and calculated a present day 4 - 10 coin survival rate per die),
that miniscule survival rate is actually reduced further in this
scenario because the Aberdeen obverse die did not only survive the entirety of
the Aberdeen output, but then went on to form a significant part of the
subsequent Edinburgh output as well, before coming to the end of its working
life further down the line. Obviously
Elizabeth 1st sixpences and David II groats are not like-for-like but being
very similar in size, it's still a very good indicator as to current day
rarity: an illustration as to the infinitesimally small output of Aberdeen groats compared to Edinburgh groats under David II
and thus their absolute rarity, both then and more-so now.
Full flan, well centred, much above average
grade for the usual David II groats you see (often flat strikes with blurry
detail, and rarely full flan). Also,
very nicely toned and with excellent provenance. An important coin. £2,225
Provenance:
ex Spink Numismatic Circular 1988 (2184), purchased
by...
ex R. Carlyon-Britton
collection, dispersed...
DNW Auction 142,
lot 1345, Sept. 2017 (£1,300 hammer - £1,690 after buyer commission), purchased
by...
ex R.W.
Kirton collection (an excellent numismatic researcher
who amassed a comprehensive collection of Scottish coinage)
WJC-9265: Rare Variety Charles 1st
Hammered Silver Civil War DECLARATION Shilling. Bust of Charles 1st, left, mark of value to
tight, nothing left. Reverse Bristol Declaration, dated
1645. Initial mark BR
reverse only - S.R.3018. Some
light clipping, indicated by being 0.6g underweight at 5.39g. S.R.3018. This is one of the rarest Bristol
Declaration shillings, being the last to be struck there. Incidentally, the well respected and
extremely comprehensive Brooker collection of Charles 1st coinage had but a
single example of this late type - a fabulous full flan, well centred, high
grade coin. It was 5.7g.
This coin
has been centrally pierced as part of the 1696 Great Re-coinage, largely
overseen by Sir Isaac Newton at the mint.
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 the former
was battered and bruised through shear over usage, not to mention 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 under-weight was to be
exchanged for the new milled coinage and anything of the correct weight was
allowed to circulate for a few years more.
This latter cohort was identified as “still legal” (crucially, these
hammered coins were not legal currency, rather they were officially
sanctioned to pass as lumps of bullion only, so technically still actual money,
but not legally) 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 (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.
In summary, not just a Stuart
Charles 1st Civil War Declaration shilling, and not just one of the rarest
types; all of that and a shilling of the 1696 Great Recoinage to
boot. History In
a Coin! £845
