Previous Lot Next Lot

Auction: 4002 - The Marshall Collection of British & World Coins
Lot: 106

Elizabeth I, Pattern Shilling, 6.24g., m.m. key, elaborate bust left with tall narrow crown and long flowing hair, elizab d g ang fr et hib regi, rev., long cross fourchée over heavily garnished shield, posvi dev adivtorem mev (Brown and Comber P5; N.2044/5), fine scratches in field on obverse, otherwise beautifully struck on a full round prepared flan, toned, extremely fine or better, extremely rare Estimate £ 4,000-5,000 provenance: J Browne, Gerard, 16 March 1791, third day, lot 26 S Tyssen, Sotheby, 12 April 1802, lot 1822 M Trattle, Sotheby, 30 May 1832, lot 304 Lieut. Col. W Durrant, Sotheby, 19 April 1847, lot 492 ('most highly preserved, and of great rarity') Rev. J W Martin, Sotheby, 23 May 1859, lot 214 S Rostron, Sotheby, 16 May 1892, lot 177 J G Murdoch, Sotheby, 31 March 1903, lot 658 ('exceedingly fine and of great rarity; "said to be the finest known" ') W C Hazlitt, Sotheby, 5 July 1909, lot 1080 Spink Numismatic Circular, August-September 1942, no.15794 £15-0-0 This splendid piece is a mule between Brown and Comber P4 (N.2045), reading regina and with an ornately garnished shield, c.f. Slaney lot 30, and Brown and Comber P5 (N.2044), reading regi and with a plain shield. The only other specimen to have appeared at auction in the last fifty years is the well worn example in the Norweb collection, Spink Auction 48, lot 371. In his annotated copy of the Rostron catalogue, J S Henderson notes against lot 177 'a most beautiful piece, and cheap (£7-0-0). Purchased for Hazlitt, and sold at his sale, in 1909, for me'. Henderson must have parted with this coin, as with the Henry VIII testoon, lot 92 above, prior to the bequest of his collection to the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1933.

Sold for
£13,500