| Numismatica Ars Classica > Auction 145 with CNG & NGSA | Auction date: 8 May 2024 |
| Lot number: 1249 Price realized: This lot is for sale in an upcoming auction - Bid on this lot  | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: The Geoffrey Cope Collection of British Coins. Charles I 'Fine Work' Shillings of the Tower Mint. Proof AR Shilling (32.5mm, 6.26 g, 6h). Group F, type 4.4. London mint; im: eye. Struck under Parliament, 1645. Crowned sixth ('Briot's') bust left; XII (mark of value) to right / Coat-of-arms over short cross moline. Sharp (HLL) type G2/2 and p. 175-6, fig. 21 (this coin cited and illustrated); Brooker 557 (same dies); North 2232; SCBC 2800 (this coin illustrated). Of matchless quality for this Parliamentary issue. Struck on an exceptionally full round flan. Deep old. EF. Exceedingly rare. Ex Slaney (Part I, Spink 163, 15 May 2003), lot 48; E.C. Carter Collection (purchased en bloc by Baldwin's, 1950); O. Fitch Collection (purchased by Spink after his death, 1915); J.G. Murdoch (Sotheby, Wilkinson, & Hodge, 8 June 1903), lot 223; H. Montagu (Sotheby, Wilkinson, & Hodge, 13 November 1896), lot 340 ("probably the finest specimen known"); H. Webb (Sotheby, Wilkinson, & Hodge, 9 July 1894), lot 429 ("the only fine example of this type known"); E.J. Shepherd (Sotheby, Wilkinson, & Hodge, 22 July 1885), lot 332 (part of) This coin exhibited, Coins, Crown & Conflict, American Numismatic Association, Money Museum, 2007. On 10th August 1642 Parliament seized control of the Tower mint. For the duration of the ensuing Civil War the mint continued to strike all the existing denominations bearing the portrait, name and titles of Charles I until the the king's execution and the establishment of The Commonwealth in 1649. It remains a subject of some debate as to why a series of new and attractive portrait types were issued. Such was the need for coin however that the standard of production quickly sunk to a deplorable state. This extraordinary Shilling (and the following lot), undoubtedly struck as a proof of record, while perhaps not quite as carefully made as the earlier proof issues, is all the more remarkable given the prevailing conditions of the time. Estimate: 6000 CHF |  |
