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Auction: 23051 - English Milled and Hammered Coins and Artefacts
Lot: 1072

Henry IV (1399-1413), "Heavy Coinage", Type II, Penny, 1399-1412, London, hENRIC 'x D 'x G 'x REX [An]GL 'x F, saltire stops, crowned bust facing, shorter neck, star on breast, rev. CIVI[TAS] LONDON, reverse-barred Roman Ns, long cross, trio of pellets in each angle, 1.07g [16.51grns], 10h (Potter 1, dies 1/1 [BNJ 1960/61, p. 125]; Snelling -; Hawkins -; Whitbourn [1869] 181a = J F Neck, NumChron [1871], p. 108, no. 2 = Rashleigh [1909], 699c same obverse die; Montagu -; Lockett -; Stewartby III, 1215 same obverse die; North 1348; Spink 1719), slightly short of flan, a hint of die-clashing through portrait with peripheral striking softness nevertheless the distinctive Heavy Coinage legend perfectly clear and almost fully legible, richly cabinet toned, about very fine for issue and OF THE HIGHEST RARITY

Provenance

The George Pickering Collection of English and Anglo-Gallic Silver Coins

Seaby, by private treaty, 1981 - £700 [with their distinctive orange ticket, stating: P21306, 6820H/S - cost £500]

It is somewhat of a mystery that the 1981 Seaby ticket makes no mention of the Raymond Carlyon-Britton specimen, nor the Potter corpus of this excessively rare series. This is especially confusing as Seaby privately purchased both collections between 1959 and 1963. Frustratingly no illustration can be traced for Carlyon-Britton's (dies 1/1), Potter seemingly overlooking its illustration in his reappraisal of the specie of The Silver Coinages of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V, for the BNJ in 1958 and 1960. Helpfully he does note that 'CIVITAS' is 'not visible'. On the present specimen the TAS of CIVITAS is struck flat, but even the most cursory of inspections enables a clear reading of the CIVI. Are we looking at Raymond Carlyon-Britton's own specimen, or a second example that surfaced in the Seaby dealing trays in the early 1980s? In any case, only five other Heavy Coinage Pennies of Henry IV for London can be traced with certainty, making this an highly important offering.

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Sold for
£4,500

Starting price
£650