| Schulman b.v. > Auction 378 | Auction date: 28 March 2024 |
| Lot number: 317 Price realized: 1,400 EUR (Approx. 1,515 USD) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: WORLD Coins Sweden - ½ Riksdaler 1641, Silver, CHRISTINA 1632–1654 Facing bust of queen. Rev. Christ with orb and crowned arms at left. AAH. 26.14.13 g. PVC-resiude. Nonetheless an appealing example with a well-struck portrait. Nearly extremely fine Estimate: 500 EUR |  |
Match 1:
| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 145 with CNG & NGSA | Auction date: 8 May 2024 |
| Lot number: 1225 Price realized: 80,000 CHF (Approx. 88,427 USD / 82,140 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: The Geoffrey Cope Collection of British Coins. James I. 1603-1625. AV Spur Ryal (34mm, 6.90 g, 7h). Second coinage, fine gold issue. London mint; im: tower. Struck 1612-1613. Half-length facing bust of James, holding sword and shield, in ship sailing right, adorned with rose; I on flag set on forecastle / Floriated cross with lis at end of each limb and rose on sun at center; in angles, crowned lion passant left; all within tressure of eight arches with trefoils in spandrels. Schneider –; North 2080; SCBC 2614. A well struck example of this wonderful type. Richly toned. Near EF. Very rare. Purchased E. Bohr, December 2005. Ex Spink 81 (19 November 1990), lot 44; Spink 9 (4 June 1980), lot 375; M.W. Hall (Glendining, 3 October 1963), lot 158; E.C. Carter Collection (purchased en bloc by Baldwin's, 1950). Sir Charles Oman writes: 'the 'spur-ryal' is the last English coin to reproduce the old type of the king in his ship, which descended from Edward III's original noble, but here reproduces the rose-noble of Edward IV. The ship is not the old heraldic vessel, but a seventeenth-century man-of-war with two rows of gun-holes and two masts. The king does not adhere to Elizabeth's type of a figure in civil dress with ruff and sceptre, but goes back to that of Henry VIII, showing the king fully armed with sword and shield.... ryals are extremely uncommon - and it is even probable that they were never struck in any quantity for real currency, but were issued for royal gifts and distribution in ceremonies.' Estimate: 60000 CHF |  |
Match 2:
| Spink > Auction 392 | Auction date: 14 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 204 Price realized: 35,000 USD (Approx. 31,976 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Edward VIII (1936), Winchester College, The King's Gold Prize Medal, 1936, awarded to Christopher Ivan William Seton-Watson MC*, by Thomas Humphrey Paget and Bertram Wyon, EDWARDVS VIII REX ET IMPERATOR HONOREM PROPONIT, 'classical' bare head left, rev. the tomb of William of Wykeham, ETIAM SEPULTI VIVIT FAMA WYKEHAMI OB MCCCCIV in three lines in exergue [\Even buried the fame of Wykeham lives, died 1404"], 49mm., 86.35g., [Unhallmarked, Spink XRF: 18ct. Gold, London (Royal Mint)], struck retrospectively on 2 March 1937, edge largely plain but inscribed upwards C. I. W. SETON-WATSON. 1936. in New Roman capitalised script 9 and 4 o'clock (BHM - [cf. 4383/3720]; Eimer - [cf. 1240]; Jeremy Cheek, 'Royal Prize Medals', BNJ, 2018, pp. 175-188), faintly hairlined and lightly wiped in otherwise lustrous, original fields, an unfortunate but largely imperceptible scratch above Wykeham, otherwise extremely fine and much as issued, OF NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE, as a 'one-year type' of which only two examples were struck off in gold for English and Latin Speech at Winchester College, the oldest continuously operating patron of an annual Royal Prize Medal, and whose unique obverse legend: 'Edward VIII, The King and Emperor Proposes this Honour' elevates this prestigious award to truly exalted numismatic heights especially when viewed alongside the approved 'Coin Portrait' in a format larger even than his legendary Pattern Five-Pounds, and critically struck in gold, by and housed in, the Royal Mint official case of issue with the stunning and seldom-encountered Edward VIII Cypher in gold-letter Provenance The Estate of Christopher Ivan William Seton-Watson MC and Bar (1918-2007). Christopher was born 6 August 1918, the younger son of Robert William and Marion Esther Seton-Watson. He was baptised at St Margaret's (Westminster) on 7 October that same year. Prior to education, he resided at No. 1 Buckingham Street, Buckingham Gate, London. His father, often writing under the pseudonym 'Scotus Viator' from here, proved a troublesome thorn in the side of the British Government for his outspoken beliefs on a federal solution to Austro-Hungary. Conscripted into the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1917, his allies soon rescued him to the Intelligence Bureau of the War Cabinet and the Enemy Propaganda Department. It was during this posting that Marion would fall pregnant and Christopher would be born. Whilst his second son was still an infant, Robert journeyed to Paris on his own diplomatic mission for the Peace Conference of July 1919. He continued to rile European officials with his jibe about the 'pygmies of Paris', but equally sought the renewal of friendships with ministers of the new state of Czechoslovakia. His allies Tomáš Masaryk would become the first premier; and Edvard Beneš its Foreign Minister. Unsurprisingly Seton-Watson Senior would prove instrumental in the establishing the post-war frontiers of Yugoslavia and Italy. Robert separately established the School of Slavonic Studies and from 1922 held its post as the first Masaryk Chair of the Faculty. Following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, Robert devoted his time to academic teachings; although was reportedly unpunctual, untidy, and too preoccupied with other matters". Unsurprisingly, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's later policy of appeasement to Nazi Germany about the subject of Czechoslovakia, found in Seton-Watson one of his governments most pointed critics. This lead to his publication of "Britain in Europe: 1789-1914 - A Survey of Foreign Policy, 1937, in which he argued for the strengthening of the enforcement role of the League of Nations as a 'united European front against the disturbers of the peace'; in short to be an active deterrent against the 'inverted Bolshevism of Italy' and naked aggression of Germany. Following the Second World War, Seton-Watson lamented the loss of the former Easter blocs new-found democratic freedoms, retiring to the Isle of Skye where he died in 1951. With the pursuit of geo-political and military history firmly embedded within the traditions of this family, it is unsurprising to see first Hugh (born 1916), and then Christopher follow in their father's footsteps. Educated at Horris Hill, Christopher became a scholar of Winchester College in 1931. In the Summer of 1936, Christopher would receive this prestigous King's Gold Prize Medal for Latin Verse; and subsequently serve as Head Boy, or 'Aule Prae' until he left the school the following year. His academic record was excellent - having further distinguished himself in History and Latin Speech; a School Exhibition; and as the recipient of the main Classical Prize for an Old Wykehamist - the Goddard Scholarship. The following year, Christopher commenced his Bachelor degree at New College, Oxford with the study of Classics and PPE, and helpfully where his elder brother Hugh was already working as a lecturer. Also revealed on the 1939 Census is the fact Christopher had joined the Officer Training Corps as a Cadet. This would expedite his transition into the colours upon the outbreak of hostilies in September 1939. The history of the Winchester College Prize Medal dates to at least as early as the first decade of the reign of King George III in the 1760s. However, it was not until 1797, that the Prince of Wales (the then Prince Regent) took up the patronage of the award and the addition of HONOREM PROPONIT ("Proposes the Honour") was made to the design. This Royal Prize Medal is the oldest of the now 24 annual awards bestowed by the Sovereign across the Armed Forces, Education, Architecture, Science, Poetry and Geography. As noted by Christopher Eimer (Author, British Historical Medals): "the medal was established by the Prince of Wales... two each in gold and silver, to be awarded in gold for Latin speech and in silver for Latin prose; the other two medals to be awarded for English, gold for speech, silver for verse, these to be awarded in alternate years." Today, Winchester College preserves an early example of the award for 1801, stating the transitional legend 'HONOREM PRINCEPS PROPONIT' and the device of the Prince of Wales (the Ostrich Feathers). When the Prince Regent became King George IV in January 1820, the bestowal of the Prize Medal became the preserve of the Sovereign, a tradition that endures to the present day over two centuries later. The present design was updated by Bertram Wyon during the reign of Queen Victoria to depict the tomb of school founder William of Wykeham, who died in 1404. Winchester College also preserves a small collection of prize medals from the reign of King George V (1919); King George VI (1945) and the late Queen Elizabeth II (2008). As Cheek notes: "Laurence Brown went to great lengths to define which medals should or should not be included in his book. Generally prize medals were excluded, as he felt that if he did not do so the book would never be complete or be published. However his overriding consideration was that medals of national importance would be included. As Royal Prize Medals were thought to be of national importance they were there confusingly in both categories. The result was that Royal Prize Medals issued during the reigns of George IV (1820-30) to George VI (1936-52) were included in BHM.... He continues: "There are also other Royal Price Medals not listed in BHM and not present in the following set: those medals produced with the effigy of Edward VIII, of which twenty-six were produced late in 1937. Equivalent issues to nos. 1-7, 10-12, 14-16, 18 and 20-21 were produced bearing the effigy of Edward VIII; no Edward VIII medals were produced for the Royal Geographical Society (Founder's Medal); the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Police Essay Competition or the Poetry Medal. A Royal Household Long and Faithful Service medal of Edward VIII was produced but never awarded; there is an example in the Royal Mint Museum. The other medals listed in the set described below were only initiated after the abdication of Edward VIII in December 1936. Laurence Brown was an assiduous researcher and I am sure that the omission of these medals from BHM was deliberate, presumably because he believed that they should be considered as Patterns for medals that were not issued, and thus lay outside the scope of his book. However since the publication of BHM two examples of Royal Prize Medals with the effigy of Edward VIII have appeared at auction inscribed with receipients' names, so it would appear that at least two were in fact awarded. There are no specimens of Royal Prize Medals with the effigy of Edward VIII in the Royal Collection." Corpus: 1. Royal Military Academy (Sandhurst) 2. Britannia Royal Naval College (Dartmouth); Awarded to Peter S Wilson; Morton & Eden, Auction 8, 25 May 2004, lot 133 (£6,200 HP); Joseph S Giordano Collection 3. Royal Air Force College (Cranwell) 4. King Edward VIII School (King's Lynn) The abdication of King Edward VIII on the 11 December 1936 brought to an end a tumultous 325-day reign. The termination of his reign brought with it the logistical headache of scrapping his approved effigy for a replacement in the likeness of King George VI. Deputy-Master of the Royal Mint (1922-1938), Sir Robert Arthur Johnson conceded: "The work of the two artists was all but completed when the events of last December rendered it nugatory. Over 200 dies of coins, medals and seals were thus rendered useless and the Mint was faced with the task of securing portraits of his present Majesty with but limited time available." He added in the same December 1937 interview shortly before his death: "I am betraying no profound secret in stating that the coinage effigy of the former King was, at his personal wish, prepared facing to the left. But as there has been no coinage bearing the bust of the former King, the old tradition has maintained by showing the effigy of the present monarch facing in the same direction as the last monarch but one. The new King's effigy faces left, as did those of King George V and Queen Victoria, a fact which is surely one of the most happy augury." He concluded: "During 1936, in the early stages when the coinage for King Edward was in question, I was made aware that some desire existed for a complete departure from the heraldic tradition which has been associated for several centuries with our principal coins." Based on surviving Royal Mint Archives, Official Gazette entries, contemporary newspaper reports and eyewitness accounts, the following timeline can be reconstructed for the numismatic and philatelic record of the short-lived King's reign. 20 January 1936 - At five minutes to midnight, King George V dies at Sandringham and his eldest son David, Prince of Wales becomes King Edward VIII. Thursday, 6 February 1936 - An official at the General Post Office informs the Daily Telegraph, that: "New postage stamps and postal orders bearing the portrait of King Edward VIII are not likely to be issued until the end of the year. It can also be authoritatively stated that no mourning stamps are to be printed. The annual sale of stamps in Britain totals 7,000,000,000. Postal orders number 225,000,000. Of the 70,000 letter boxes in the country, comparatively few will bear King Edward's initials for some time. New boxes will do so. Letter boxes bearing the inscription E.R. VII are still in existence, and there are still a few old ones marked V.R. On the 9,000 mail vans, the Royal initials will be altered as the vehicles are repainted." It is estimated that only 271 post-boxes bearing the cypher of Edward VIII were eventually produced. The same day, the 4th Winter Olympiad is opened in Garmisch-Partenkirchen by Adolf Hitler. Friday, 21 February 1936 - "The King received Sir Robert Johnson, Deputy Master of the Royal Mint at Buckingham Palace, and inspected a plaster cast of his own head, which had been prepared at the Mint. The cast will, with Royal Approval, be used not only for the new coins, but also in the preparation of dies for medals and other purposes." Friday, 13 March 1936 - "The King has approved two designs for the new Royal cypher: "E.R. VIII.". The War Office will make known to the public next week the designs submitted by Garter King of Arms which have been approved by the King. One Cypher in plain modern block letters surmounted by the Imperial Crown, will be used by the postal authorities and Government offices, Embassies, Legations and Consulates abroad, and by Dominions, India and the Crown Colonies. The other cypher follows the traditional style of interlocked initials with oak-leaf fringes. This will be used by the armed forces and the constabulary of the Empire." Tuesday, 28 April 1936 - The King sat at Buckingham Palace for the two medallionists [Thomas Humphrey Paget and Percy Metcalfe] of the Royal Mint, for the head which will appear on the new coinage and the medals which will be granted by King Edward the Eighth. Friday, 1 May 1936 - In what is estimated to be a £1,000,000 stimulus to the manufacting and stationery industry of Britain, the first printed examples of the King's Cypher appear in circulation. Saturday, 30 May 1936 - Bradford Post Office becomes the first building in Britain to feature the King's new cypher. Monday, 20 July 1936 - The Annual Swan Voyage of His Swan Master's Skiff along the River Thames exhibits the new Royal Cypher 'in red surmounted by a gold crown'. Friday 31 July 1936 - Sir William Currie, Chairman of the Worcester Committee announced that the King had been graciously pleased to become the patron of [Thames Nautical College, H.M.S.] Worcester. The King's gold medal was won by Kenneth Hodson. "A letter from the Secretary of the King's Privy Purse was read explaining that the medal could not be presented yet as a new one had to be cast bearing King Edward's head." This same medal was later sold by Sotheby's at an auction of 5 July 1994 (lot 211) and is believed to remain in a Private British Collection. Friday, 7 August 1936 - The King approves the uncrowned effigy submitted by Mr Thomas Humphrey Paget for his coins and medals, and the designs for the reverse of the new silver coinage by Mr George Kruger Gray. Tuesday, 1 September 1936 - Edward VIII's uncrowned effigy is released on stamps at midnight, featuring the series of halfpenny, threehalfpenny and twopence-halfpenny. London's three 'all-night post offices' in Fleet Street were besieged by collectors with queues forming two hours beforehand. "The issue was regarded as the greatest success of any recorded by the Post Office as over 30,000,000 stamps were sold on the first day." The following day however, critics were quick to note: "The head of the King is far from being the best photograph that has ever been taken and makes him appear more youthful than he really is. People are asking why there could not have been a break from tradition. Why always a face in profile? Why not full face, with the King wearing that boyish smile which has endeared him to millions? The new Australian stamp shows the King full face, so why not the English?" The Belfast Newsletter notes: "People are expressing the hope that a little more imagination will be displayed in the preparation of the new King Edward coins than has been manifested in the printing of the new stamps." Monday, 14 September 1936 - The penny stamp of Edward VIII is released. Wednesday, 16 September 1936 - The Royal Mint submits proposals to the Treasury for a new larger Threepence coin. An official stated: "the size is midway between that of a sixpence and a shilling. Efforts are being made to find a distinctive edge for the coin. The metal to be used has not yet been decided upon. The new coin will not however be made of silver or nickel." As Prince of Wales, Edward had described the silver issue, colloquially dubbed a 'joey' as an 'annoying coin'. Monday, 8 December 1936 - The Official Gazette, Notice No. 769 states: His Majesty the King has approved the issue of the customary official medal to commemorate His Majesty's Coronation. The medal will show on the obverse the crowned effigy of His Majesty with legend, and on the reverse the gateway of St James's Palace. "The Royal Mint are prepared to accept orders for these medals in Gold, large size, diameter 2.5 inches, price 50 guineas; small size, diameter 1.25 inches, price 12 guineas." Notice No. 770, states: "It has been announced that His Majesty the King will broadcast a message to the Empire on the day of his Coronation, Wednesday 12 May 1937. This will be His Majesty's first act after the Coronation ceremony is over. It is understood that a message to the Empire will not be broadcast by His Majesty at Christmas." Wednesday, 10 December 1936 - King Edward VIII signs his 'Instrument of Abdication' Thursday, 11 December 1936 - King George VI acceeds to the throne Tuesday, 2 March 1937 - The Royal Mint produces the obverse die hub for the Winchester College, King's Prize Medal. As each Royal Award is the preserve of the incumbent Sovereign, it is elected to retrospectively strike the medals with the 'classical' uncrowned effigy of the former King Edward VIII for those awarded in 1936. These are distributed to recipients over the following month. i) The Royal Collection boasts the artist's approval in gilt metal of King George VI sent for the monarch's personal assent (RCIN 443736). No artistic trials of Edward VIII were produced for the same purpose as the medals were to be produced retrospectively. ii) Spink has offered Marcus William Dick's, 1938 award in 2014, lot 628 iii) Spink has offered John Christopher Dancy's, 1939 award in 2021, lot 8110 Estimate: 15000 - 20000 USD |  |
Match 3:
| Ira & Larry Goldberg Coins & Collectibles > Auction 137 | Auction date: 29 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 1119 Price realized: 67,500 USD (Approx. 62,519 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Great Britain. Milled Half Pound, ND. S-2543; N-2019. 5.69 grams. Elizabeth I, 1558-1603. Milled Coinage (1565-1570). Coinage by Mestrelle, the monarch in jeweled dress, with curly "Z" in her name, and grained edge. Crowned bust left. Reverse; Crowned, square-topped shield. Lis mintmark (struck 1567-1570, era of the 3rd Coinage). A splendid example, rich with luster and mellow golden red toning, on a broad flan and showing intricate design details. Few exist of this caliber! Extremely rare as such. Pop 1; The only Example graded. NGC graded MS-62. Estimated Value $30,000 - UP Tower Mint, London. This coin features a famous coinage portrait of the queen wearing a ruff around her neck, her long hair seemingly studded with jewels, flowing from beneath her crown down the back of her neck, her dress elaborate and also jeweled. Her profile is dramatic and accurate to life. Above her near the rim is a "lis" initial mark. The reverse side shows a familiar motif that became the standard for her smaller gold coins: a quartered shield, crowned, holding the royal insignia, with her initials ER split to the sides. The "lis" again appears, here before one of Elizabeth's favored religious legends, in Latin SCVTVM FIDEI PROTEGET EAM, which in English means "The shield of faith shall protect her." The "lis" initial mark signifies that this coin was minted 1566-70 as part of what is called Elizabeth's Third Coinage period. This was relatively early in her long reign at a time when she was determined to rectify the debasement of English money which began when her father, King Henry VIII, raided his own treasury to pay for his personal excesses, and they were numerous. By contrast, his daughter was almost stingy and her desire was that all English coins issued in her name would be of high quality-that is, of a fineness of metal that would inspire confidence in the money as well as loyalty to her as queen. She also commanded that her Royal Mint would fashion her money well, with a sharpness of design that would be consistently well detailed. At the time, coins were made using an ancient technique involving individual "moneyers" at the mint holding one die while the other was settled into a block; when a blank piece of metal was placed on the lower die, the coiner would place the upper die on it and strike it with a hammer, often more than once. This produced coins of inconsistent quality, sometimes sharp here or there, sometimes struck off center with areas of weakness of design. About 1561 the Privy Council, which advised the queen and was the sole intermediary between the monarch and her various agencies of government, was approached by a man of great talent at minting-Eloye Mestrelle, a French moneyer who possessed some equipment that was not yet known in England. It was a "screw press" worked by two or more men who swung a long lever that caused the mechanism to close on a piece of metal held in place below it. The blank pieces of metal from which the coins were struck in this manner were made by another piece of machinery powered by a horse-drawn mill in another part of the mint. He called his novel money "mill" coinage, now known as "milled" by collectors. Elizabeth liked the idea and ordered her Privy Council to engage Mestrelle. He set up his equipment at the old Royal Mint inside the Tower of London and produced this special coinage from 1565-70. Unfortunately there was a downside to the story of his great success: the guild of old-time workers, who had hammered out coins for decades, felt so threatened by the Frenchman's inventiveness that they told their masters at the mint that the equipment was unreliable and slow, compared to their own work. They orchestrated Mestrelle's removal from the mint in 1572, but what was experimental in 1565 remained impressive to many eyes and within a century "milled coinage" would return and become the new standard in Great Britain. Ex Dr Jacob Y. Terner Collection (by private treaty to the Millennia Collection). Illustrated in Money of The World, coin 84; Ex Goldberg "Millennia" Sale 46, May 26, 2007, lot 296. |  |
Match 4:
| Spink > Auction 23051 | Auction date: 27 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 1148 Price realized: 1,500 GBP (Approx. 1,905 USD / 1,759 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Charles II (1660-1685), Shilling, 1669 over 6, first laureate and draped bust variety right, rev. four crowned shields cruciform, eight strings to Irish harp, edge obliquely milled. 5.91g, 6h (Marshall 82(b) = Murchison 397 = Rishton 138(b) = Brice = Montagu 810 = Murdoch 602 ["Unique"]; Woodhouse 326; Dalzell 82 = Pywell-Phillips 58 same dies; Shimmin (1983), pp. 232; Bull 515 [R6]; ESC 1031; Spink 3372), evenly circulated and lightly gilt, otherwise strictly fine, the reverse similarly so albeit for softness at Scottish shield, the edge milling residually sharp, an EXCESSIVELY RARE date, and the technical finest of the three we have been privileged to offer in these rooms since 2018. Provenance, "Reader's Rarities", Coin Monthly, February 1971, Reported to the Editor at Coin Monthly, 21 October 1970, ~ From the W J James Esq. Collection ~ , , Corpus:, i) Pywell-Phillips: Spink 257, 30-31 October 2018, lot 58 - "the reverse very softly struck, with general light pitting to surfaces, the portrait and overdate otherwise clear, about fine/poor, but excessively rare"; Lord Hamilton of Dalzell MC, Spink 3, 21 February 1979, lot 82 - "fair, but of the highest rarity" - £260; Spink, by private treaty, 1969; Herbert Alexander Parsons, Second Collection, Glendining, 11-13 May 1954, lot* 549 [part] - "well preserved and excessively rare" - £22.0.0, ii) H Manville, Spink 9, 4 June 1980, lot 54 - "small die rust marks in obverse field, obverse good very fine, reverse nearly extremely fine, attractively toned, and of highest rarity, one of the finest known" - £900; K Woodhouse, Glendining, 11 December 1968, lot 3268 "about extremely fine, only a few specimens known" - £300.0.0, , , , The excessive rarity of this date has been noted by auctioneers since at least the Rishton sale of 1875, but was further noted by George Marshall, pioneer of the study of English Milled coinage in a letter to W G Stearns of Boston Massachusetts, published in the Americana Numismatic Journals:, , "Ward End, near Birmingham, England, July 28, 1842, Dear Sir-: I received in due course, your obliging letter of 16th ultimo, and also the copy of your Half Crown of Charles 2d, date 1668, for which I beg you will accept my best thanks. My friend, Mr. J D Cuff of London, who has one of the best, if not the very best collections of English and Saxon Coins, was so fortunate as to meet with one of this date in August 1838; this with your own are the only ones I have yet heard of, but the fact is that before any publication of my work, no attention has been paid to dates by any previous author except Snelling, whose works though very valuable in many respects, and now very scarce, are not much to be relied upon as to dates. Since the publication of my book, much attention has been given to this subject, and some few dates before unknown, have made their appearance. , , I saw your letter to Dr. Bowditch of 18th March 1840, in answer to some enquiries he had made respecting the early history of the coins of your country, and which letter was read before the Numismatic Society of London on 2d May, 1840 and was published in the Numismatic Chronicle, in October of the same year. I was there first acquainted with the fact of your possessing the Half-Crown of 1668. The only dates which have occurred since my book was published , and which have come to my knowledge, are as follows: - viz: Charles 2d, Crown, 1665; Half Crown 1668; Shilling, 1669; do. 1681 without the Elephant and Castle under the head. William 3d Sixpence without Roses or Feathers on the reverse. William 4th Half Crown and Shilling both dated 1837. These are I believe all in the English series which are known except what are mentioned in my View of the Silver Coin, &c. I remain, dear Sir, Your much obliged servant, GEORGE MARSHALL." , , The number of 1668-dated Halfcrowns now known renders its classification as a more lowly "R2" according to Maurice Bull, although three have passed through our rooms since 2018 in various specialised cabinets. Marshall could sadly only muster 'an electro type of 1668', possibly that which Stearns had sent him from Boston in his sale in 1852 (cf. lot 71 part). He did however manage to purloin an example of the 1669 Shilling (cf. lot 82), which was acquired by William Webster, latterly of Messrs Spink, for Captain Sir Roderick Impey Murchison (1864, lot 397 part]; at whose sale he repeated the feat as a commission agent for John Edward Makon Rishton (SO, 13 July 1875, lot 138 - £3.12.6); wherein for a third time Webster bought it for William Brice. Unbelievably when Brice sold his collection en bloc to Hyman Montagu in 1887, Webster would follow the coin to his new career at Spink where he would handle it for a fourth time in cataloguing it for the Sotheby's dispersals (1896/97); and a fifth time for the John Gloag Murdoch sale (1903/04) where it would be bought for £4.13.0 by Spink commission bidder, the Marquess of Bute. Estimate: £1400 - £2000 |  |
Match 5:
| Spink > Auction 23005 | Auction date: 12 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 159 Price realized: 6,500 GBP (Approx. 8,165 USD / 7,571 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: The 'Haddenham' Collection of English Coins | Wessex, Edward the Elder (899-924), 'Portrait' Type, Penny, c. 903-910, Winchester, Wulfræd, + EADVVEARD REX, bare head and draped bust of pleasingly fine style left, no diadem, but hair in knot at nape of neck, rev. • | VVLF+ | + • + | RED MO | • in two lines, divided by two crosses and pellet, pellet above and below, [Spink XRF: 96.32% Ag; 2.22% Cu; 1.05% Au; 0.415% Pb], 1.59g [24.54grns], 4h (Richard Meade [1755], 5b; Sharp [2017], 28; Ruding [1840], Pl. XVI, no. 4 different dies; 'A Hoard of Anglo-Saxon Coins from Rome', NumChron [1884], pp. 225-255, no. 72; Montagu I [1895], 576 = Bliss [1916], 88* = Drabble [1939], 398* = Mallinson 758* this coin; Montagu I [1895], 575 = Murdoch I [1903], 96 same obverse die; McClean [1906], 158 different dies; Roth I [1917], 65 = Ryan II [1952], 740* different dies; Carlyon-Britton [1918] 1659 = Lockett [1958], 2716 = Curwen [1959], 93 different dies; G W Shaw [1924], 564* different dies; Bruun [1925], 75* different dies; Huth [1927], 272; H A Parsons [1929], 97b; 'Rome Hoard II', Glendining, 16 May 1929, lot 39 same obverse die; 'Rome Hoard II', Glendining, 13 November 1930, lot 55 different dies; SCBI 30 [America], 327 different dies; P Finn, FPL 9 [January 1997], no. 77 same dies CTCE 44 [HT9]; North 651; BMC III [Coll. no. 91 = Pl. VII, no. 9 same obverse die]; Spink 1084), a small metal flaw before face and some peripheral striking softness to legends, with a further trace of smoothing and contact marks to cheek, otherwise a thoroughly wholesome coin with a deeply alluring 'fine style' and indeed 'true to life' portrait of 'the Elder' - the undisputed "finest known" of the five traced from this obverse die, and perhaps of any numismatic canon of the House of Wessex; with spots of red wax in fields from earlier plate impressions; with rich and attractive cabinet toning, a handsomely bold very fine / extremely fine, a great rarity and a frequent 'dead-cert' for catalogue illustration in sale dispersals, with an exemplary and entirely reconstructed pedigree since last offered in these rooms in 1984. Provenance, T Mathews, by private treaty, 1985 - £540, Rev. Arnold Mallinson, Spink 39, 6 December 1984, lot 75 - "obverse very fine but bust and hair extensively tooled, reversely extremely fine, very rare" [recte] - £340, Spink, by private treaty with Reverend Mallinson, G Drabble, Part I, Glendining, 4 July 1939, lot 398* - "in beautiful state and very rare" - £7.10.0 [Spink for stock], T Bliss, Sotheby's, 22 March 1916, lot 88* - "very fine and very rare" - £5.0.0 ["Pauyer"], H Montagu, First Portion, Sotheby's, 18 November 1895, lot 576 - "very fine and very rare" - £3.5.0 [Verity for Bliss], , , In the 1956 Seaby Bulletin, a cataloguer observed: "the bust of fine style, probably a real attempt at portraiture". To this can be added the notice that the reverse die is also to be found with the Circumscription obverse, as recovered from the Morley St. Peter and Cuerdale troves. , , The Spink cataloguer for the Mallinson sale, incidentally the last time this example would appear publicly for sale, interpreted the fine detailed incisions of the hair and furroughs of Edward's drapery as 'extensive tooling'. This is simply not shared by the present Spink cataloguer. Unsurprisingly, despite Mallinson's detailed pedigree work pre-dating even the Great War, the Drabble connection was entirely forgotten in 1984, much as Drabble had omitted the Bliss and all-to-sought-after Montagu connection. In the Mallinson catalogue, as well as in study of the Drabble and Bliss plate illustrations, no further disturbance can be noted for or surrounding the portrait. , , The mis-interpretation of tooling can be throughly dismissed by direct comparison to the 'Rome Hoard' (1929, lot 39) coin, in which same obverse die was employed. Even from the grainy plate illustration from that sale catalogue, the fine incision-work from the knot of hair to the brow of head are clearly faithful to the original die matrix. The same observation can be made in comparison to the the even clearer example from the Montagu 1895 sale (Portion I, lot 575), where this very coin happened to once sit happily as a venerable neighbour. Were further proof still required, study of the Finn FPL (January 1977, no. 77) provides a recent demonstration of this same remarkable Anglo-Saxon artistic canon. Patrick Finn, commented: "the best and most lifelike portrait I have seen on a coin of Edward the Elder. A coin to be exhibited as an example of Anglo-Saxon art.". Alas, the coin much like the present double-die matched example was a casualty of the low-ebb market and would remain on his books until (FPL 14, 1998, no. 90), but his observation undoubtedly stands the test of time., Estimate: £3000 - £4000 |  |
