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Auction: 5033 - The Colin Adams Collection of Halfcrowns
Lot: 226

Charles I, Exeter mint, Halfcrown, 13.18g., 1644, ill-conformed Exeter horseman walking left, holding sword upright, horse with twisted tail, rev. declaration REL:PRO:LE ANG:LIB;PAR in two lines, three small plumes above, date and Ex below, pellet either side of date, EXVRGAT DEVS DISSIPENTVR INIMICI, pellet stops, m.m. rose/Ex (JGB 1053 (same obv. die); Besly N37; N.2571; S.3080) a splendid coin, lightly double struck on horseman, and weak on horse´s head, otherwise in mint state, extremely fine for this, an exceptional example of this extremely rare type Estimate £ 5,000-6,000PROVENANCE: Spink Auction 117, 19 November 1996, lot 352 Coins of the ´Declaration´ type, known to contemporaries as ´Exurgat money´, are very rare outside the royal mints of Oxford and Bristol, and their appearance at the other royalist mints is likely to have some special significance, though this is not always obvious, BNJ 1992, p.119. Very small quantities of ´Exurgat money´ dated 1644 (Halfcrowns), and 1645 (Halfcrowns and Shillings) were struck at Exeter, and they form one of the great rarities of the Charles I provincial series. Besly recorded eight Halfcrowns, struck from three reverse dies, of which only two now remain in private hands. This new example is among the finest known.

Sold for
£14,000