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Auction: 20123 - Spink Numismatic e-Circular 3 - Part I: The Penny: 'From Actium to the Anarchy' (31BC - AD 1154)
Lot: 1624

'The Anarchy', Baronial Magnates of York, Robert III de Stuteville († 1186), Penny, struck c. 1148-52 [?], on dies designed by Continental engravers [?], 0.98g, 6h, +[...]RODBERTVS D S|TV Knight on horseback right, brandishing sword, mantling (lambrequin) flying from conical helmet, rev. fine 'ornamental' legends with D I interspersed among spoked-wheels, cogwheels, cross pommée in quatrefoil and other devices, escarbuncle fleury at centre (EMC 2020.0114 this coin; Allen [2016], 'Phase 4', dies Bb, and pp. 309, no. 64 same dies; Mack [1966], no. 228c same dies; Lockett -; N.932; S.1321), chipped on horseman's head and split by tail, with other creasing and superficial scuffing to flan, otherwise struck details better than fine to approaching very fine, this coin of the highest rarity and greatest numismatic importance, being the first new discovery in over a century; the second most complete example recorded and only type coin available to commerce!

Provenance
Found West Lutton (Ryedale District), North Yorkshire, 12 March 2020



This remarkable issue has been the subject of intense numismatic conjecture for over three centuries, during which time no fewer than three separate attributions have been considered. The first example came to light with at least two other Anarchy-period issues of Eustace FitzJohn whilst levelling mole-hills in a field near Wetherby in 1684 [Thoresby, nos. 124, 130 and 131]. It was not until 1726 however, that the first illustration of the coin appeared in Stephen Martin Leake's work 'Nummi Britannici Historia' (pp. 9 and pl. 1, no. 2), where he identified it as an issue of William the Conqueror's eldest son - Robert II 'Curthose', Duke of Normandy (c. 1051-1134). Ames' publication of the Earl of Pembroke cabinet in 1746, and Andrew Ducarel's treaty on Anglo-Gallic Coinage provided further discussion on the now two known examples. With the publication of Thomas Snelling's more famous festschrift in 1762 a new candidate emerged - Curthose's nephew - Robert FitzRoy, 1st Earl of Gloucester; the illegitimate son of King Henry I and half-brother of Queen-elect Matilda (see pp. 6, B). At the Society of Antiquaries meetings of 1775 and 1778, argument and counter-argument was made for these attributions, the treasurer Mr Josiah Colebrook and George North (1707-72) preferring the new identification of FitzRoy; and Ralph Thoresby (1658-1725) the custodian of the Wetherby find at the time of Leake's work, and the Reverend Samuel Pegge leaning towards Curthose. In Pegge's rebuke of 1778, the first faithful line drawing by a 'Mr Basire' appears for the coin, as he denounced Colebrook for 'committ[ing] some capital mistakes' in his thesis. However by the publication of Roger Ruding's Annals in 1817 (pl. 1, no. 20), the reattribution to the Earl of Gloucester had been generally established, even though Ruding, like Leake and Snelling, perpetuated the same mistaken transcription of the obverse legend as 'RODBERTVS IV'. In 1841, Edward Hawkins, Curator of the British Museum, published his own sylloge, again attributing the coin to FitzRoy, but this time illustrating the newly acquired British Museum example with a new interpretation of the obverse reading as 'RODBERTVS ST_T'. Helpfully, he records the three extant coins - the one he had acquired from the Barclay sale in 1831 (no. 1); the Pembroke coin (no. 3); and 'another supposed to exist, but in what cabinet is not at present known', which is unquestionably the Hunterian specimen at the centre of the numismatic row some 70 years prior (no. 2). Subsequent publications by Stewart-Thorburn in 1888; and a revised edition by Grueber in 1905 again testify such figures.



Remarkably however, it was not until 1907 that Mr W J Andrew confirmed the obverse reading on the only complete and now well-illustrated coin to be 'RODBERTVS DE STV', thereby corroborating Packe's new suggestion in the 1896 Numismatic Chronicle (later championed by L A Lawrence) that the issue related to a Baronial Magnate of York and a scion of the de Stuteville family of which at least three Roberts are known. One Robert is recorded as a general in the army of Archbishop Thurstan who faced King David I of Scotland at the 'Battle of the Standard' at Cowton Moor on 22 August 1138. At the Carlyon-Britton sale in 1916, the following notice is appended: 'This exceptionally rare type must have been struck in very poor metal because of the five specimens known, only one is perfect. The [British] Museum example lacks one piece, this two pieces and the other two are mere fragments. Mr L A Lawrence was the first to question the attribution to Robert, Earl of Gloucester, because he believed it was struck at York, and therefore preferred to assign it to Robert de Stutville, one of the leaders at the Battle of the Standard; an attribution which was practically confirmed when Mr. Andrew ascertained that the perfect coin was at Glasgow and supplied the missing letters DE STV. This coin is therefore the third finest known piece.' [sic]



Andrew opined that following the death of Archbishop Thurstan in February 1140, Robert II de Stuteville was appointed sequestrator to the City of York, a role which included the oversee of Archbishop's two coin dies whilst the seat was unoccupied. Given the span of only three months, he assumed that Stuteville continued producing the 'Flag type' (a local variant of King Stephen's coinage which he deduced had been created to celebrate their victory at the Battle of the Standard) at this time, but could conceivably also have produced his 'Horseman' type. Andrew's judgment was predicated upon the result of the Battle of Lincoln, where Stephen's defeat precipitated a collapse in governance and regulation of the mint operation at York. As it was customary to include the name of the moneyers on the coinage to provide a personal hallmark of purity, Andrew deduced that the legends were deliberately blundered with ornaments to mask the origin of the striker and thereby allow for this unscrupulous debasement - a fact evident in the lower weight and brittle nature of the surviving coins. Following the accession of Empress Matilda to the throne, her appointed Lieutenant of the North, Eustace FitzJohn peacefully re-entered York and claimed control of the dies, subsequently producing his 'lion' and 'armed figure' coinage. The dating for de Stuteville's coinage has been latterly challenged by Mark Blackburn, who on stylistic grounds of the ornaments would date the issue towards the end of King Stephen's reign and the period c. AD 1148-1152.


Unfortunately, following the publication of Ruding's and Hawkins' works, this issue also came to the attention of the 19th Century master forger 'Emery', whose productions proved so convincing as to continue troubling collectors and academics like Lawrence into the 20th Century. At least two examples of Emery's fabrications have been identified, but not until they had passed through several notable cabinets including that of the Honourable Robert Marsham (1888) and even Hyman Montagu (1896). At the Marsham dispersal, two coins of 'Robert, Earl of Gloucester' [sic] were offered as lot 253 - the first described a coin of full flan 'of Boulogne work' [based on a contemporary association with King Stephen as Count of Boulogne] and the second 'a large fragment'. Messrs Spink and Son would purchase the pair in good faith for the princely sum of £16.10.0 for Montagu, in whose 1896 sale the two coins would be split and offered separately. The 'Boulogne' coin was illustrated as lot 356, eventually selling for £8.0.0 to 'Ware'. It was only upon its reappearance again three years later that L A Lawrence was finally able to review the coin in hand, and document his findings in the Numismatic Chronicle of that year. He would comment: 'it is most beautifully struck over a short-cross penny. The old reverse under the new obverse is most plainly visible.' Now condemned, it would go unsold at the Lord Kesteven dispersal, with the 1899 catalogue simply remarking: 'Since then the coin has been clearly stamped a forgery.' A second example also from the Montagu and formerly Brice cabinets was added to the National collection in the meantime and subsequently utilised for the die match analysis expressed in Lawrence's 1899 work. The earliest sale reference to these forgeries is to be found in Chaffers' dispersal of 1857, in which a lot of 'Twelve forgeries of exact representations of exceedingly rare Pennies' included: '...Robert, Earl of Gloucester, Rud. pl. I, no. 20...', eventually sold to 'Ancell' for 17 Shillings.



Fortunately however, Lawrence's analysis also confirmed that Emery had similarly blundered the obverse reading in his concoction, opting for the reading RODBERTVS E STD. A corpus of the known coins was updated by Commander Mack for the BNJ in 1966, and has been further revised by Martin Allen in 2016. At least two obverse and two reverse dies were employed, with a third die-pairing observed but called into question as a possible further product of 'Emery's mint'.



Dies Aa (3)
1) British Museum (Mack 228a | Allen 61 | BMC 271), 1.08g [16.4grns], a large fragment, missing edge between 8 and 11 o'clock; From the Barclay [1831, lot 50 - £9.15.0]; Abraham Edmonds [privately sold]; and Dimsdale [1824, lot 227 - £7.17.6] collections. The Spink Library copy notes at the Dimsdale sale: the coin was purchased by Edmonds for C. Barclay and that: 'This piece has lost a part, in other respects good.' At the Barclay dispersal, it was acquired by Hawkins, Keeper of Antiquities of the British Museum for £9.15.0.


2) Hunterian Museum (Mack 228b | Allen 62 | GLAHM:37699), 1.13g [17.4grns], the most complete specimen known with only a slight flan chip at 6 o'clock. From the Dr William Hunter collection († 1783), who purchased it along with the cabinet of Matthew Duane 'in the drawing room at Somerset House for £4,000' (1776). Duane must have acquired the coin privately for it did not feature in 'Musaeum Thoresbyanum' Sale, Whiston Bristow, London, 5-7 March 1764 where Duane was a successful bidder. Andrew Ducarel recorded the coin in August 1755 as in the possession of Mr Thoresby, having previously been in the cabinet of his father, Ralph Thoresby, 'the first historian of Leeds' (1658-1725), and son of John Thoresby, founder of the 'Musaeum Thoresbyanum' who had purchased the collection of Coins and Medals from the executors of Thomas, 3rd Lord Fairfax († 1671) estate. In the Museum's 1715 inventory, the following note is found: '[124]: This piece of Robert, eldest son of William the Conqueror, was found Anno 1684, near Wetherby in spreading the mole hills, or to use the local word, dighting the ings.' [sic]


3) National Museum of Wales (Mack 228e | Allen 63 | Ames [1746], P4/T4), 0.96g [- grns], a large fragment wanting of legend between 8 and 12 o'clock. Via Baldwin [1986], and from the Ryan [1952, lot 935]; Wheeler [1930, lot 196]; Reynolds [1919, lot 88]; Lawrence [privately sold before 1916]; Montagu [1896, lot 357 - £7.10.0]; Marsham [1888, lot 273(b)]; Wigan [1872, privately]; and Earl of Pembroke [1848, lot 59 - '14.8 grns' - £11.10.0] collections. [Illustrated in 1746, and again by Ducarel in 1757, pl. 5, no. 59, and acquired prior to 1733.]



Dies Bb (2)
4) Fitzwilliam Museum (Mack 228c | Allen 64 | CM.1173-2001), 1.00g [15.6 grns], chipped in two places at 4-5 o'clock and again at 7 to 9 o'clock, otherwise on a full flan. Acquired from W J Conte [2001, privately], and from the Dupree [SNC, 1989-90 not listed]; Lord Grantley [1944, lot 1316]; and Carlyon-Britton [1916, lot 1501] collections.


5) This coin.



Dies Cc (1 - Doubtful)
vi) Whereabouts unknown (Mack 228f | Allen 65), weight not recorded, but illustrated in 1939, showing a large fragment, wanting legend between 6 and 11 o'clock. From the Drabble [1939, lot 733] collection.*



*This coin was the subject of scrutiny in Pagan's 1971 thesis, where he condemns it alongside the Kesteven and Montagu coins as Emery forgeries (pp. 162, no. 51, a; b; c). As Drabble's coin conveniently lacks the legend at the point of error, it is easy to see how it could have continued to be in circulation until the Second World War. The lack of a documented weight in the sale catalogue, and a conspicuous absence from circulation since 1939 must continue to render its authenticity in doubt, even if die comparison with the known plate image does not afford a match to the other established Emery forgeries.



Additionally, Mack mentions a sixth coin in his sylloge [228d] - a fragment found in his own collection, and formerly from the cabinets of S M Spink and Bernard Roth (1918, lot 150[b]), and alluded to by Brooke in his 1916 publication. The minutes for the meeting of the British Numismatic Society on 22 September 1948 document his exhibition of: 'a Robert de Stutville - a fragment'. Mysteriously however, Mack does not offer a weight nor provide a plate illustration for his own coin in his own corpus. However the coin is found in SCBI 20, as no. 1636, where it is reported as weighing 0.66g. From the illustration, and convenient level of damage it too has been suspected as being the work of Emery and as such has been omitted from Allen's 2016 corpus.



Consequently only five coins can currently be authenticated, of which all but the present coin are housed in institutional collections. The last public offering of this great numismatic rarity came with the Dupree collection through the celebrated forerunner to these e-Circulars - the Spink Numismatic Circular - in 1989-90. That coin was subsequently accessioned into the Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge) cabinets in 2001, thereby rendering this coin the only available to a private collector. Should either of the other two ‘lost’ specimens ever reappear, and indeed be confirmed genuine, this coin would still remain the most complete coin available to commerce. It is also noteworthy that this example is the first new discovery for the series in over a century, and confirms beyond reasonable doubt the employment of at least two die pairings in the production of this historically problematic issue.



For further reading, see:

Ralph Thoresby, Ducatus Leodiensis - 'A Catalogue of the Antiquities', 1715, pp. 349-387

Stephen Martin Leake, 'Nummi Britannici Historia [An Historical Account of English Money]', 1726

Joseph Ames, 'Numismata Antiqua in tres partes divisa :
collegit olim et aeri incidi vivens curavit Thomas Pembrochiae et Montis Gomerici comes' (1656-1733) - Part IV - 'Nummi Anglici et Scotici cum aliquot numismatibus recentioribus', 1746

A C Ducarel, 'A Series of above two hundred Anglo-gallic or Norman and Aquitain coins', 1757, pp. 3 and pl. 5, no. 59

Josiah Colebrook: 'Observations on a coin of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, addressed to the President.' Read at the Society of Antiquaries, 9 March 1775. pp. 132-141

The Rev. Mr Samuel Pegge: 'The Penny with the Name of Rodbertus IV'. Asserted to Robert Duke of Normandy; and other matters relative to the English Coinage occasionally discussed. In a Letter to Dr. William Hunter.' Read at the Society of Antiquaries, 25 June 1778. pp. 390-415

Rogers Ruding, 'The Annals Of The Coinage Of Great Britain And Its Dependencies', 1817, pp. 22-23 and plate 1, no. 20

Edward Hawkins, 'The Silver Coins of England', 1841

W Stewart-Thorburn, 'A Guide to the Coins of Great Britain & Ireland, in Gold, Silver, and Copper', 1888

A E Packe, 'The Coins of Stephen', Numismatic Chronicle (1896), pp. 59-71

W Stewart-Thorburn, [Revised] H A Grueber, 'A Guide to the History and Valuation of the Coins of Great Britain & Ireland, in Gold, Silver, and Copper', 1905

G C Brooke, 'A Catalogue of English Coins in the British Museum Collection: Norman Kings', 1916.

Commander R P Mack, 'Stephen and the Anarchy 1135-1154', British Numismatic Journal, Vol. XXV (1966), pp. 38-112

H E Pagan 'Mr Emery's Mint’, British Numismatic Journal, 1971, pp. 139-170 and plates 1-2

Edmund King, 'The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign', 1994

M R Allen, 'The York Local Coinage of the Reign of Stephen (1135-54)', Numismatic Chronicle (2016), pp. 283-318




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Estimate

Starting price
£5000