Almost immediately after publication of the original article on the use of a unique style of letter R by a die sinker to identify his work, two rare examples came up for sale on Ebay; one for Robert on Canterbury and one for Ricard L’Espec (le Specer, le Spicer) at the same mint. The coins of Richard L’Espec are all very scarce and he is one of the few moneyers for whom we have specific dates. His appointment was recorded in April 1268 and he was recorded as “Late” by 23rd September 1271 1 , giving us an approximate period over which R 2 coins were produced.
As to Robert, there is some confusion over who he actually was as there were a number of Roberts who could have held the dies at the time 2 . However, thanks to the coin of Richard, it appears that the use of the unique R 2 to identify the moneyer’s work took place over a period of 12 to 15 years, possibly even longer.
In the light of the appearance of these coins the original article has now been updated. Bob Thomas has kindly read the original script and his thoughts have been added to the body of the text.
BNS Research Blog 