Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 23006 - The Official COINEX Auction at Spink
Lot: 68

The John Chatwin Collection | Æthelred II 'the Unready' (978-1016), 'Long Cross' Type, Penny, c. 997-1003, London, Leofric, + ÆÐELRÆD REX ANGLO, diademed and draped bust left, rev. + LEOFRIC M'O LVND, voided long cross, each limb with crescent terminals, 1.63g [25.15grns], 7h (Hild. D, 2694-96; Dolley 43; North 774; BMC IVa; Spink 1151), some rust to peripheries consistent with the Shaftesbury hoard, otherwise beautifully struck up and strikingly uniform, a most enchantingly bold extremely fine, and much as issued, a common issue, but truly scarce in this exemplary technical state

Provenance

From the John Chatwin Collection of English Hammered Coins

Commander R P Mack Collection [with ticket in his hand, number 5] and evidently purchased after auction by Spink, albeit not listed in his sylloge or sales

By private treaty with Mack, by 1945

A H Baldwin, purchased en bloc from finder, 1941

~ and recorded by D. Allen in his "meticulous notes" ~

Shaftesbury I Hoard, deposited c. AD 1003, recovered 1940



R H M Dolley, writing in Numismatic Chronicle, 1956, 'The Shaftesbury Hoard of Pence of Aethelraed II', pp. 267-280, stated: "In the British Numismatic Journal for 1941, Mr. A. H. Baldwin recorded the fact that a most interesting parcel of Anglo-Saxon silver coins had been 'discovered amongst certain property left by an inhabitant of Shaftesbury'. The parcel comprised 65 coins, all of them Aethelraed II's Long-Cross type (Hildebrand D = Brooke 5 = B.M.C . IVa = Hawkins 207). [...] Recently [in 1955] there has come to light a further parcel from the same hoard, and new information concerning the circumstances of the discovery. The coins were found on the outskirts of Shaftesbury itself, not a couple of hundred yards without the defences of the Saxon burgh. They numbered roughly one hundred, and appear to have been contained in a wood or leather coffer cramped with iron bands.
[...] The date of discovery, moreover, has proved to be only a few months prior to the appearance of the coins in the London market, and there can be little doubt but that in more settled times Mr. Baldwin's very frank and prompt report of his purchase to the Museum authorities would have set in motion an inquiry which would soon have exploded the vendor's too facile explanation of how the coins came into his possession."



It is noteworthy that the only example to display the moneyer's name Leofric was found in the first parcel in 1940.

Subject to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium. For more information please view Terms and Conditions for Buyers.

Sold for
£650

Starting price
£270