| Schulman b.v. > E-Auction 12 | Auction date: 27 March 2024 |
| Lot number: 2071 Price realized: Unsold | |
| Lot description: WORLD Coins France - 1 Décime An 5 B over A (1796-1797), Copper, LE DIRECTOIRE 1795–1799 Rouen mint. Marianne left. Rev. value within oak wreath.Gad. 186; KM. 640.11.S Struck from worn dies from the Paris mint, altered into dies for Rouen. Good for the type Almost extremely fine Estimate: 50 EUR |  |
Match 1:
| Schulman b.v. > Auction 378 | Auction date: 28 March 2024 |
| Lot number: 139 Price realized: Unsold | |
| Lot description: WORLD Coins France - 1 Decime An 4 (1795-1796), Copper, LE DIRECTOIRE 1795–1799 Paris mint. Marianne left. Rev. value within oak wreath.Gad. 300; KM. 638.Modified 2 Decimes with UN stamped over value in 1796. Fine + Estimate: 100 EUR |  |
Match 2:
| Spink > Auction 24004 | Auction date: 4 April 2024 |
| Lot number: 346 Price realized: 13,000 GBP (Approx. 16,338 USD / 15,176 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Australia, (Southern Australia), Government Assay Office (1837-1901), Adelaide Pound, 1852, "Type I", by James Payne, GOVERNMENT ASSAY OFFICE | 1852 | ADELAIDE, crown above date inside beaded circle, rev. WEIGHT, 5 DWT: 15 GRS: | VALUE | ONE | POUND | 22 CARATS., written value within beaded circle, weight and fineness around, edge milled, 9.96g, 12h (Capt. J J Cullimore Allen, Sovereigns of the British Empire', p. 57 = Spink Auction 90, March 1992, lot 383 same dies; KM 1; Friedberg 1; McDonnell 1), with integral late-Victorian rose-gold loop soldered at 12 o'clock, otherwise lightly sweated in largely original and residually lustrous fields, an icon of Australian numismatics with a putative 50 coins struck before the die broke, struck details better than very fine, extremely rare in any condition. The Type 1 variety of this famous coin, of which it is believed that no more than 50 were struck before thefamous die-crack on the reverse developed in size until the die was unusable, is both a great rarity and the very first gold coin type struck in Australia. Most known specimens are not without marks because, at the time of their minting, coins were not being saved by collectors; all of the locally made gold coins were much needed for commerce, and both varieties of 1852 Adelaide pounds were soon mixed together and distributed to banks for use. Almost all of them ultimately perished. The continent of Australia remained the domain of scattered indigenous people for centuries until 'transported' British convicts, followed by other settlers, began to make a new civilization in the early nineteenth century. The towns, mostly distant from each other, existed because of farming and cattle ranching. Hard monies seen in early Australia were cast-offs, like most of the inhabitants. All this changed in the early 1850s with the discovery of gold near the town of Adelaide; other gold fields were soon discovered, and these over the course of only a few decades would change Australia from being a sleepy outback into a new country of great prosperity. Soon, too, worn-out old foreign coins ceased to be the main currency. Prospectors quickly brought specie to towns near the gold fields but, as was equally true in early California during its gold rush of 1849, nuggets and gold dust were not easily used for money. Commerce was consequently stymied despite the influx of this new source of real wealth. There were two problems to be sorted out. Turning raw gold into usable coinage was no simple affair, nor was it legal for an British colony to produce its own money without first obtaining approval from the British Crown. In 1852 all distant communication was by mail, via sea passage, and it simply was not practical to await legal sanction to coin money in the name of Queen Victoria. The need for gold coins for local use was pressing. Ideally such coins would have the same value as the familiar English sovereigns. So, in November of 1852, the South Australia Legislative Council passed an emergency measure, entitled the Bullion Act. At first the assay office thereby created smelted ore into ingots, but these were no more easily used in commerce than gold dust or nuggets. What to do until approval from London arrived? The Council decided to hire a local die-sinker by the name of Joshua Payne. He produced a pair of dies that created the now-famous Adelaide pound featuring the distinctive legends as well as a declared fineness and weight in gold. The resulting 'emergency tokens' looked exactly like coins; they were not elegant but they were of good weight. The issuing authority never intended its golden money to be more than token issues of solid value and must have assumed that their local coins would be recalled and turned into new sovereigns, once approval of the Crown was obtained. But history intervened, and a legendary coin for collectors was born. The local die-sinker had done his job but evidently failed to make the dies of sufficient hardness: after producing just a tiny number of coins, the reverse die failed, cracking at the 12-o'clock position from the rim inward (to the left of 'DWT' in the legend). The first die split apart and another die was quickly made, varying slightly from the first - the simple beaded circle with two linear outlines changed to resemble the form used for the obverse - and this time it was correctly hardened and ultimately produced an estimated 25,000 gold pounds. These were all rapidly thrown into commerce, as were the handful minted showing the die-break, of which only 25 to 50 are thought to have been made. Almost all of these coins experienced plenty of use because they were needed for commerce. Nobody at the time noticed that some of the coins were different from the others. No collectors saved coins in 1850s South Australia! The Crown in Britain meanwhile passed warrants to establish an officially sanctioned mint for the colony. In August of 1853, Parliament authorized an official branch of the Royal Mint, and on 14 May 1855 the Sydney Mint opened in a portion of the old Rum Hospital. The first gold sovereigns were struck in Australia on 23 June of the same year, bearing a variant of the Young Head portrait seen on London Mint coins but with a distinctive reverse. Over time the new sovereigns replaced the Adelaide pounds as the money of choice. One of the ironies of the situation then caused the Adelaide pounds to disappear: the mint's assayers as well as others discovered that the Adelaide 'tokens' were actually finer than advertised, more valuable intrinsically than the sovereigns that replaced them. Anyone in possession of an Adelaide pound did not in fact have 20 shillings (one sovereign) of value but rather 21 shillings and 11 pence, the actual value at the time of the gold content of the coins. The result? Almost all Adelaide pounds ended up being melted for the profit in gold this produced. They quickly disappeared. They perished. Every survivor is a miracle of chance. The coin offered here is far from perfect, but clearly it was never abused, and somehow it escaped the fate of almost all of the rest of the mintage. What was born of necessity as an experiment, was then rejected as inferior, then gathered up as being more valuable than it was thought to be, and was ultimately greedily destroyed, ended up becoming more desirable than anyone contemporary with its creation could ever have imagined. As the image at the centre of its obverse suggests, it has become a crown jewel of the coinage of early Australia. Estimate: £6000 - £10000 |  |
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 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 5:
| Spink > Auction 23005 | Auction date: 12 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 142 Price realized: 1,500 GBP (Approx. 1,884 USD / 1,747 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: The 'Haddenham' Collection of English Coins | Mercia, Coenwulf (796-821), Group II, 'Cross and Wedges' Type, Penny, c. 807, Canterbury, Duda, recut from Cuthred dies, + COENVVLF REX M [over CVÐRED], diademed and draped 'Romanised' bust right, eyes heaven-bound in piety or divinity [?], rev. + DVDA MONETA, cross and wedges in angles, [Spink XRF: 94.60% Ag; 4.21% Cu; 0.720% Pb; 0.476% Au], 1.33g [20.53grns], 2h (Naismith C24a = EMC 1984.0006 this coin; EMC 2002.0266 [Saffron Walden], same obverse die; EMC 2014.0281 [Alfriston] same obverse die; Naismith, "Kingship and Learning on the Broad Penny Coinage of the Mercian Supremacy", in 'New Perspectives' [2011], pp. 70-71 this coin mentioned; North 344; Spink 915), light surface marks and porosity from past soil deposition, the surfaces since unfortunately 'restored' thus the retoning somewhat artificial, otherwise of good and stable fabric, the recut Cuthred obverse die beautifully clear and here paired with an evidently exhausted reverse matrix presumably also dating from the reign of Cuthred, extremely rare and of great significance in the numismatic sequencing of the Mercian hegemony in the Kingdom of Kent, one of only three recorded of this exceedingly unusual practice of 'overwriting' Heptarchic-era coinage dies at Canterbury, this being the now well-published 1983 discovery specimen. Provenance, T Mathews, by private treaty, 2000 - £620, SNC, October 1997, no. 4944* - "almost very fine, rare" - £675, SNC, February 1995, no. 99* - "almost very fine, rare" - £700, SNC, November 1993, no. 7823 - "wt. 1.363g, slightly weak obverse, otherwise about very fine, and rare, - £750 - then subsequently cleaned, BNJ Coin Register 1984, Blackburn and Bonser, no. 6 this coin, in which the following transcription is appended:, , "Found by a metal detector user in a field at Colney, near Norwich, late in 1983. The finder kindly supplied us with photographs and subseqently brought us the coin to study. Coenwulf of Mercia, Cross and Wedges type, c. 805/7-c. 810 (North 344). Canterbury, moneyer Duda. Obv. + COENVVLF/REX M Rev. +DVDA MONETA, Weight: 1.40g (21.6gr.). Die-axis: not recorded. Duda, a Canterbury moneyer, struck coins of the Tribrach type for Coenwulf and Cuthred of Kent in the period c. 798-805 and coins of the Cross-and-Wedges type for Cuthred c. 805-7, but he was not hitherto known to have struck coins of that type in the name of Coenwulf c. 805/7-810. Instead he appears to have had his own distinctive Cross-and-Quatrefoil design, the small flans indicating that they belong before c. 810. However, the new coin from Colney shows that he did briefly use the Cross-and-Wedges type under Coenwulf, before adopting the other design. A close examination of the obverse reveals that under the legend there was an earlier one which can be read +CVBRE[ ]I[ ] for +Cuthred rex / Canl (Fig. 2). The coin was probably struck from an altered die of Cuthred, rather than being overstruck on a Cross-and-Wedges coin of his, for there are no signs of overstriking on the bust or on the reverse, and there would be no reason to restrike coins which evidently belonged to the same issue. There is one other coin of this type, by the moneyer Eaba, which also appears to have been struck from an altered Cuthred die." It has been suggested that Coenwulf and Cuthred shared access to the Canterbury mint, but it seems more likely that between c. 800 or a little later and his death in 807, Cuthred operated the Canterbury mint to the exclusion of Coenwulf.'' On Cuthred's death Coenwulf resumed control of the mint, and the Duda and Eaba coins presumably belong to the period immediately following this.", , Found at Colney (Norfolk), late 1983, ~ Recorded with the Fitzwilliam Museum, ref. EMC 1984.0006 ~ , , Interestingly no Cuthred coin can be traced with the unaltered obverse die at Canterbury, but both the Saffron Walden (2002) and Alfriston (2014) finds present different reverse dies. This probably suggests that the reverse die encountered on the present specimen had almost been exhausted during the reign of Cuthred, but was still just about serviceable at the time of his demise and Coenwulf's revisions at the mint. Consequently the obverse may well have been quite new at this point of transition, to account for why Dudda decided to simply recut the obverse legends rather than scrap the matrix altogether. In comparison to the other contemporary moneyers, not only is the classical canon so heavily apparent, but as too is the hand of this portrait engraver and its stylistic similarities to that used for cutting the dies of Wærheard (cf. EMC 2013.0009). As Naismith notes: 'They were presumably struck in the immediate aftermath of the death of Cuthred in 807, and provide a good illustration of the significance attached to the name, but not the portrait that appeared on coinage at this time." , , For further reading, see: "Single Finds of Anglo-Saxon and Norman Coins", Blackburn and Bonser (BNJ 1984) - http://www.britnumsoc.org/publications/Digital%20BNJ/pdfs/1984_BNJ_54_8.pdf Estimate: £1000 - £1500 |  |
