Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 24004 - British and World Coins and Medals Spring Auction
Lot: 217

William III, Solus (1694-1702), 'Plain Angles' Sixpence, 1699, third laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, rev. large crowned shields cruciform, angles plain, three strings to harp, edge obliquely milled, 2.89g, 6h (Bull 1248 [R3]; ESC 1576; Spink 3538), some bruising in front of portrait and in third quarter on reverse, wear to the higher points but reverse better, otherwised toned, good fine, EXTREMELY RARE, but unsurprisingly overlooked thanks to the Plumes and Roses issues of the same year, nevertheless the plain angles type a key rarity of the Williamite coinage


Cursory examination of CoinArchives provides the following important update to the census of surviving examples of 1699 William III Sixpences.




Since 2003, at least fifteen specimens of the 1699 Plumes (Bull 1245; ESC 1577) have appeared at global public auction, including the Slaney Part II (14 May 2015, lot 477) and Lord Hamilton of Dalzell MC coins (LCA 156, 4 April 2017, lot 2750). Over the same time period seventeen examples of the Roses issue (Bull 1246; ESC 1578) have appeared, having featured heavily in the Frank Viles, Hardcastle and Pywell-Phillips dispersals by Spink, as well as the reappearance of the Lockett coin in January 2011 now graded NGC MS64. Within this, only one example has been identified as the 'inverted A for V in GVLIELMVS' variety (Bull 1247; ESC 1578A). Both have been rated 'R2' by Maurice Bull, suggesting as many as 1,250 extant for each. The Malcolm Wootton Collection adds a further specimen of the Plume coinage to this list (16 coins), having been acquired by him on 16 August 1996, and a further three examples of the Roses issues (20 coins), two acquired at the same time as the Plume type, and a further sourced from Format in September 2000.




Comparatively only six examples of the 1699 Plain Angles issue have surfaced at seven public sales since 2003, the most recent four offerings being part of group lots where only limited appreciation for its scarcity has been proposed. Whilst Spink acknowledged this to a certain extent at their last offering (6 December 2017, lot 310); another example would pass through the same saleroom twice, quite underappreciated as part of a group lot of seven (DNW, 16-17 September 2014, lot 2084); and once more in recent times, now in a group of eight (DNW, 2 June 2021, lot 253). A flurry of three different specimens appeared at LCA between Spring 2009 and December 2012, with the example offered in September 2011 (lot 2358), likely to be Jackson-Kent's own reference example, and the first, a clear example of the inverted A for first V in GVLIELMVS (Bull 1249). Bull has only ascribed this issue R3 (Bull 1248), and R4 (Bull 1249) respectively, suggesting perhaps 300-400 surviving coins. The CoinArchives corpus supports this rarity attribution, indicating the Plain issues are between 3 and 4 times scarcer. In reality the date is seldom met with in the auction room, with the plain angles issue demonstrably prohibitively difficult to source.


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