Author: BNS Blog Coordinator
PORTABLE ANTIQUITIES SCHEME, EXPANDING CROSS TYPE : UPDATED – HUGH PAGAN
In 2019 I put up on the BNS Research Blog a list of the 73 coins of Edward the Confessor’s Expanding Cross type that had been recorded on the Portable Antiquities Scheme’s online database up to that date, with numerous suggested corrections to the attributions made on the PAS site, and other associated comments. Seven years later the number of such coins on the PAS site has risen to 115, and it seems useful to provide an updated list of the coins involved, again with numerous suggested corrections and comments. It is to be noted that only two of the PAS entries which I noted in 2019 as requiring correction have so far been updated on the basis of the suggestions that I made at that time, and it is very much to be hoped that more will be done on that front.
Three new coins of the Cork mint of Edward IV – Oisín Mac Conamhna
The purpose of this note is to record two new coins of the Cork mint of Edward IV, a groat and, significantly, a penny; and to discuss a third new groat, recorded in 2023 by the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS). The groats most likely date to the second reign of Edward IV; the penny may belong to either.
Titled Crown / First Cross and Pellets cross-coinage reverse die links at Waterford, 1465 – Oisín Mac Conamhna
The purpose of this note is to record cross-coinage reverse die links between Titled Crown (1463-5) and First Cross and Pellet (1465-7) coinage groats and pennies at Waterford.
The forgotten die: experiments in coin edge imaging – D. G. Rowe
While high-resolution images of the obverse and reverse of most coins are widely available, the same cannot be said of the edge. When it contains an inscription, this omission is a major obstacle to the researcher and collector. This post reviews and compares currently available techniques for coin edge imaging at minimal cost.
A groat die of Edward IV used at Waterford and Cork, linking with Cork readeption groats of Henry VI – Oisín Mac Conamhna
The purpose of this note is to record an obverse die of Edward IV that was used at Waterford and Cork, the Waterford attestation of the die noted by the author while browsing the numismatic website Numista; the weight of the Waterford specimen was not available. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first example in the Irish series of Edward IV of an obverse groat die that was definitely used at two mints.
A fourth Cross and Pellets halfgroat of Drogheda – Oisín Mac Conamhna and Philip Russell
A detecting find from Lincolnshire, the coin, despite its poor condition, is of significance in that it is indeed a Drogheda Cross and Pellets halfgroat, S.6371, and so deserving of record.
Eadwine at the Lincoln Mint: A minting career from Cnut to Edward the Confessor – Rob Page
This article presents a discussion of a rare Cnut coin from Lincoln by the moneyer Eadwine. Any readers with knowledge of further Eadwine coins are encouraged to contact the author using the comment box below.
A Dublin Portrait Halfpenny of Henry VII – Pat Kimber and Oisín Mac Conamhna
The purpose of this note is to put this significant find – to our knowledge the first known example of an Irish portrait halfpenny of Henry VII – on record.
Charles Montagu Crompton-Roberts, Coin Collector – Hugh Pagan
The composition of the notable coin collection put together by Charles Montagu Crompton-Roberts (1865-1931), heir to a partnership in an exceptionally profitable paints and varnishes business, has remained obscure because when the Spink firm purchased it in 1920 they initially offered it for sale in the Numismatic Circular without any mention of its past ownership by Crompton-Roberts. The collection was especially strong in the Anglo-Saxon series, and the present note explains that virtually all the Anglo-Saxon coins involved were acquired by Crompton-Roberts within the years 1893-6 through commissions for lots in Sotheby coin auction sales placed by him with the dealer Frederick William Lincoln. A list of the coins in question is attached : it may seem alarmingly lengthy, but it should be useful for future researchers.
