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 26th October 2021

 

 

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

 

WMH-7219:  Henry 1st  Hammered Silver Round Halfpenny – the best known “Top Pop” example.  Obverse: facing uncrowned head of Henry 1st, hair made up of nine fleur-like ringlets, inner beaded circle with legend surrounding: +HENRIC REX, initial mark cross.  Reverse: +hASLAC ON LIN – Aslakr (moneyer) of Lincoln, central cross potent with groups of pellets in angles.  The very first recorded example of the moneyer for this issue.  Good find patina, official edge snick.  Extremely well struck on a full, large flan and grade good VF.  The legends (obv & rev) are excellent – an interesting aspect of this coin is the use of a capital H in HENRIC.  Accompanying tickets here.  This coin was found near Lincoln 2018 and is fully recorded on the EMC database (2021.0111).  North 872, Spink 1277.  There are approximately twenty two examples of round Henry 1st halfpennies recorded around the world with around half either in museums or fragmentary.  This is the best grade example of all recorded examples, both private or institutional collections – there is no better.  Choice. 

 

The round Halfpenny denomination of King Henry 1st initially came to light only 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 and more recently another Lincoln, Aslakr, an unrecorded moneyer for type (obviously, seeing as how it’s the only extant Lincoln round halfpenny!) being probably the best known example of all 22 known coins, with provenance as “found near Lincoln 2018”; 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 twenty two examples recorded with around half either in museums or fragmentary.  £10,950

 

WMH-7213:  Edward III Hammered Silver Groat.  Pre-Treaty period, im Crown, circa 1356 only, type F – London mint.  Spink 1568.  A pleasing example of this sought after initial mark groat.  £175

 

WJC-7215:  Charles 1st Hammered Silver Shilling.  Group D, type 3:1, Tower (London) mint.  Initial mark Portcullis, 1633-34.  Spink 2789.  Ex Fitts’ collection – sold with a detailed auction information slip and a cabinet ticket.  £279

 

WCom-7216:  1651 Hammered Silver Commonwealth Shilling.  Initial mark Sun, Spink 3217.  A slightly better date and the rarer “no obverse stops” variety – see the excellent Sun & Anchor website (http://www.SunandAnchor.com) for a full list of varieties.  When looking at Spink for a price guide (and it’s very much a guide), their pricing is for commonest, non variety coins.  £725

 

WSC-7217:  Robert III Hammered Silver Scottish Groat.  Light issue of 1482 only.  Edinburgh mint, initial mark Cross Fleury.  Although termed a groat, this issue circulated at 12d – the following issue groat was even worse, circulating at 1s, 3d.  Spink 5280A.  Sold with tickets stating it was bought from Seaby 1951-9.  A rare, problem-free coin.  £645

 

WMH-7206:  Henry III Hammered Silver HOARD COIN Penny in High Grade.  Voided Long Cross – hENRI ON NEWEA - class 3c, Newcastle mint.  Spink 1364.  From the famous Brusell’s Hoard of 1908.  Richly toned, high grade and a much rarer mint.  Sold with a very old Baldwin’s ticket along with a more recent auction slip and a collector’s cabinet ticket – see here.  A desirable coin.  £195

 

WTH-7207:  Henry VIII Hammered Silver “Sovereign” Penny.  Second coinage, 1426-44.  Struck under Bishop Tunstall at Durham, post 1430.  Toned VF.  Good provenance: Ex Patrick Fin (April 2000) with his original ticket showing this coin sold for £120 (x21 years ago!), ex Bosworth collection – see here for all the tickets, including a collector’s cabinet ticket.  Spink 2354 with initial mark Star.  £185

 

WSC-7208:  James III Hammered Silver Scottish Groat.  The best known example by grade.  The main issue of 1484-88, struck Edinburgh: bust half-left with arched crown.  Annulet on inner circle before bust.  25mm, 2.87 grams.  Found Aberdeen “Some time ago”, ex Alan Hunter collection via a German auction.  Chipped (looks very old) at 6 and 8 o’clock and an unprecedented high grade.  Likely to be the very best portrait known and as collectors will be aware, these coins simply don’t turn up in anything more than fine grade at best.  Choice.  £3,995

 

WSC-7209:  Mary, Queen of Scots, Hammered Silver Bawbee of Sixpence.  Struck in the first period of Mary’s reign, 1542-58, Edinburgh mint.  Interestingly, not only was that period before her marriage, it was actually during the Regency period where the Earl of Aran was Regent while Mary was still under age – the reverse cinquefoils apparently acknowledge this.  Spink 5432 - solid saltire cross.  £255

 

WI-7210:  1601-02 Elizabeth 1st Hammered Silver Sixpence.  Struck at the very tail end of the reign in order to pay the troops England sent over to quell the “warlike” Irish of the North, led by O’Neill.  The context was England’s desire to “Shire” Irish land.  The Earl of Essex was sent over to lead the troops but he was recalled to London where he was promptly executed.  The deceased Earl’s successor, Mountjoy, had a slightly better campaign, based on the fact that he wasn’t executed upon his return to London.  This coinage was very base, but not as base as the pence of this issue, which literally contained no silver – a revolutionary action (although Henry VIII got in there first with his “Old Copper Nose” coins) when you bear in mind that the entire foundation of currency was based on these coins actually being worth, in precious metals, what they were circulating as.  For example, in medieval times, a penny coin literally contained silver to the value of one penny.  This coin very high grade for issue.  £345

 

WI-7211:  1681 Charles II Copper Irish Halfpenny.  An excellent grade coin, especially so when you appreciate just how soft the copper was.  Armstrong & Legge’s regal coinage.  Interestingly, pre 1680 (the first Armstrong & Legge date), Ireland had nothing but old (and terribly worn) hammered coins, small (worn) traders tokens and foreign coins in circulation.  Spink 6574.  Sir Thomas Armstrong and Col. George Legge were granted a twenty one year licence which was ultimately so successful that it drove out all the old currency – great at the time but problematic several years down the line when this coinage was reduced to much worn copper discs.  £225

 

WSC-7203:  1699 Scottish Silver Jacobite Medal.  Prince James Edward Francis Stuart, 1688 – 1766.  A medal designed by Roettier and distributed among Jacobite followers, predominantly outside of Scotland, to gather support for Prince James (The Old Pretender) to be crowned James III of England and Ireland and James VIII of Scotland.  MI (ii)204/519, Eimer 381.  Sold with an old (2004?) ticket together with a more recent auction information slip.  The rising sun is typical of the symbolism used by the Jacobites; it represents the sun dispersing demons – a new dawn.  £325

 

WI-7204:  Medieval Irish Edward IV Hammered Silver Groat.  Second reign, third “Light” coinage of 1473.  Rarer Waterford mint town.  Initial mark Rosette.  Spink 6369D – “G” below bust indicating Germyn Lynche (an interesting and somewhat controversial gentleman) as the moneyer.  No extra obverse marks but x2 saltires in the reverse quarters.  25mm, 2.04g.  Sold with a collector’s cabinet ticket along with a detailed auction information slip.  Exceptionally nice grade for issue.  £925

 

WJC-7200:  1644 Charles 1st  Hammered Silver “Declaration” Halfcrown.  Initial mark Br – Bristol.  Virtually full weight with the usual indifferent obverse strike.  Spink 3007.  A very nice example of this iconic English Civil War (technically the first Civil War – there were three) silver coin.  £1,195

 

WAu-7191:  James II Gold Touch-Piece: Guaranteed to have been personally touched by King James II.  An ancient practice – that of The Devine (the monarchy was seen very much as a physical, tangible extension of God) healing sufferers of Scrofula (Tuberculosis) – dating as far back as Henry II.  All subsequent monarchs took some part in the ceremony (William & Mary refused because William was not of English royal decent) although Henry VIII was the most reluctant.  Interestingly, although somewhat disinclined due to an unwillingness to mingle with the common man, it was Henry who initiated the design of St George and the dragon on subsequent Touching Ceremony gold coins.  Although James’s brother, King Charles II, was an enthusiastic believer in the divine right of kings, James was actually more prolific in his touching, the number of sick being brought to him being as much as 14,364 in one year.  Clearly James II had an extremely short-lived reign, and it must be noted that for the first months of touching, he actually used the left over Charles II gold pieces – some 1,905 of them.  Again, the new touch-pieces were the work of John Roettier.  It is estimated that 1% of the London population suffered during this time), so James was never short of participants.  Interestingly, his ultimately toxic religious views seemed to have mattered very little to the average man in the street who was suffering from this extremely unpleasant disease – if James II could cure him, bring it on!  James II personally attended these ceremonies and physically handed the touch-piece to each and every sufferer.  Sufferers were invited and issued with an official Ticket-Pass to admit them to the ceremony.  You gave your Ticket-Pass in at the door, entered the ceremony, got touched by the king, received your gold coin from the king himself and hopefully left as a cured individual.  The Ticket-Token were collected and re-issued for the next Touching Ceremony.  James II touched no less than 12,000 a year during his short reign.  Touching Ceremonies were scheduled weekly, although never when the weather was warm.  Under Charles II, in 1684 the size of the gold touch-pieces were reduced and this was maintained under James.  The value of these pieces was some 5 shillings so very few would have survived the temptation of being spent as currency and thus quickly melted down upon numerous currency recalls, not least upon the death of monarchs.  Very rare indeed; more so due to the shortness of King James’s reign.  £1,850

 

                                                                                                                                                                      


This Week’s Listings

 

 

WSC-7220:  David 1st  Hammered Silver Phase A Penny.  Struck 1136 up until the very early 1140’s.  1.09g, 10h.  Cross Moline type in David’s name: (+D)AVID RE, so literally the very first Scottish coin struck with a Scottish monarch’s name.  Spink 5003.  Struck Edinburgh with Erebald as the moneyer: (+)EREBALD (---).  Listed in THE SYLLOGE OF COINS OF THE BRITISH ISLES 35: SCOTTISH COINS as #1 – the very first coin in the book.  The sylloge is made up of the Ashmolean & Hunterian museum collections, those being the main public resource for Scottish coinage.  The Ashmolean has only two Phase A examples (their #1 the same dies as this coin); the Hunterian Museum has none.  The National Museum Edinburgh (see CATALOGUE OF SCOTTISH COINS  IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM EDINBUGH) has no David 1st coins earlier than Phase C.  Sold with these old auction tickets / cabinet labels.  Reverse off-struck, some slight porosity and about VF for issue.  The last Spink 5003 I saw go through auction was the William’s example, sold through Spink 2018.  That coin was lacking in legends and still achieved £7,500 including buyer’s commission.  The only other 5003 I recall seeing was getting on for ten years ago with a hammer of around £12,800 after buyer’s commission.  This is an excessively rare and very important coin.  £6,995

 

WTH-7221:  Mary Hammered Silver Tudor Groat.  From the sole reign: 1553-54 only.  The following years (1554-58) were with Mary and Philip.  Initial mark Pomegranate, Spink 2492.  Excellent edges (these coins being prone to ragged / damaged edges) and very nice grade, other than a couple of old crease marks.  This groat followed a period in British coinage where debasement, in some cases, debasement to the point where silver coins being little more than copper coins, was rife.  It is not surprising that people in the 1550’s regarded these fine silver coins with a degree of scepticism.  The rule of thumb of the day was to test the coin to see if it could be bent – debased coins would snap, as would silver plated (ie counterfeit) coins.  We see this type of Z shape bending an awful lot in coins from this period.  Interestingly, we would see the very same Z shape bending some 200 years later on milled silver coinage, but for very different reasons.  I’ll leave you to ponder on that one!  This coin sold with an old auction slip, reporting this coin to be ex Spink.  A very nice coin.  £425