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Auction: 24005 - The Official Coinex Auction of Ancient, British and World Coins
Lot: 277

Henry VIII (1509-1547), Third Coinage, Half-Sovereign, 1544-1547, Tower, (m.m) HENRIC '. 8 • D '. G '. AGL ' . FRANC '. Z • HIB '. REX •, trefoil stops, King enthroned, holding sceptre and orb, rev. (m.m) IHS '. AVTE '. TRANSIE ' : PERMEDI '. ILLOR '. IBA, trefoil stops, crowned shield with supporters, 2h, 6.11g, m.m. pellet in annulet (Schneider I, 614-616; North 1827; S.2294), small area of raggedness to edges and softly struck to central devices as usual for issue, nonetheless residually lustrous, approaching very fine, better in parts, and with a fascinating 19th Century pedigree

Provenance

Christie's, 20 June 1989, lot 180

'Found under old London Bridge', c. 1823-1831



In 1799, a competition was held to design a bridge to replace the medieval London Bridge, which had become dilapidated and unfit for a modern city by the 18th century. It was decided that the new bridge would be constructed one hundred feet upstream from the old one, allowing the original to remain open to traffic during construction. The demolition of the 600-year-old medieval structure took two years. During this time, several notable artifacts were discovered, including a Roman silver statuette of Harpocrates (now housed in the British Museum), as well as various Roman and medieval coins, one of which is the coin in question.



Sir Edward Banks (1770-1835) was awarded the contract, along with his business partner W. J. Joliffe, to construct Waterloo, Southwark, and London Bridges. As will be noted with the pedigree for the next lot, Bank's came into possession of a number of the archaeological finds made during the renovations between 1823 and 1831. Banks was knighted on June 12, 1822, for his work on these bridges, becoming the first engineer to receive such an honour.


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Sold for
£4,000

Starting price
£1800