For many years, there has been a mismatch between the Edward VI base shilling, 2nd and 3rd issue obverse types in the Standard Catalogue Coins of England and the definitive source on the series, Joe Bispham’s The Base Silver Shillings of Edward VI (BNJ 55, 1985). Bispham’s bust 5 never made it into the catalogue, and the Spink Plate coins for busts 4 and 5 were inconsistent with Bispham’s original work. This article addresses the ambiguity with large, clear images of the bust types and their appropriate labels, following as closely as possible the original numbering. The intention is to provide a clear reference for identification of the main types. For completeness, the rare, Bristol-engraved ‘bust 3Br’ is also included. Finally, the article concludes (in the appendix) with a table of known obverse and reverse types with their associated mintmarks, including the many mules produced during the years 1549 to 1551.
Author: BNS Blog Coordinator
A MID-TENTH CENTURY COIN HOARD PROBABLY CONCEALED IN THE COLLECTION OF HUGH HOWARD (1675-1738) – HUGH PAGAN
The coin collection made by an Irishman, Hugh Howard (1675-1738), sold for his descendant the 5th Earl of Wicklow by the Sotheby firm in May 1874, incorporates what is presumably part or the whole of a mid-tenth century coin hoard in which the coinages of the Anglo-Saxon rulers Eadmund, Eadred and Eadwig were well represented. The present note lists the coins involved, and identifies the places and regions where they are likely to have been struck. Attention is also drawn to the fact that thirty-eight of the coins concerned were purchased by the dealer James Verity for the Bradford businessman Arthur Briggs, and that at the sale of Briggs’s coin collection in March 1893 a good number of the tenth-century Anglo-Saxon coins in the collection that can be identified as ex Howard were purchased for the collector Charles Montagu Crompton-Roberts. These were to be purchased from Crompton-Roberts years later by the Spink firm, and are to be found listed, without
The Two-Line Type of Aethelstan, a provisional summary – Hugh Pagan
The initial coinage struck in the reign of King Aethelstan (924-939) was of Two-Line type, in which the reverse design carries the name of a moneyer set out in two lines without any accompanying indication of the location where the coin was struck. Arguments based on the appearance of the same moneyers’ names on mint-signed coins struck later in Aethelstan’s reign, coupled with stylistic criteria, enable the moneyers concerned to be associated either with specific cities or boroughs such as London, Winchester, Canterbury, Chester, Shrewsbury, and Oxford, or with particular regional areas, and the present note sets out the current state of knowledge as to where individual moneyers involved in striking the main series of coins of this type might have been operating.
Some thoughts on the Royalist badges of Charles I, together with an example of an unrecorded variety – Kerry Wilson
The author introduces the subject of small badges produced during the reign of Charles I of England (1625-1649), mentions that there is still much that remains to be known about such items and provides an example of an unrecorded variety for illustration and discussion.
Historical Metrology: Lost in Translation? – Robert Tye
Recent generations have increasingly disagreed about the history of the Troy weight system in particular, and thus historical metrology in general. Mistranslation of historical understandings is part of this problem, and this article will attempt to separate, explain, and illustrate three degrees of mistranslation: regarding standards, structure, and rounding off.
A New Reverse Legend Reading for Edward IV First Reign London Halfgroats – Dave Greenhalgh
Please click here to view the article.
A Problem Coin of Henry III: a Matter of Class – Mike Shott
The coin illustrated recently appear on eBay. The coin belongs to class 5 and was struck at the London mint, by the moneyer Ricard.
A penny die of Edward IV used at Waterford and Cork – Philip Lee and Oisín Mac Conamhna
The new evidence of this coin is consistent with the suggestion that the Cork mint of Edward IV and Henry VI was initiated with expertise and equipment from Waterford.
A Brief Tour of Medieval Coin Hoards from Britain and Ireland – Part One: 450-1154 AD – Robert Page & William Wilson
In this article we will take you on a quick tour through Britain and Ireland, looking at the distribution of coin hoards by different historic periods, and highlighting selected examples. This article is different to others, in that it provides the reader with many clickable hyperlinks which can be followed to easily learn more about any hoard. Although some links are provided directly in the text, it is possible to access all the hoards for a particular time period by simply clicking on the “map-link” beneath each of the illustrated maps.
A new Mule for Henry VI Annulet Trefoil Pennies – Dave Greenhalgh & Lee Stone
As a result of a recent find, we must now add Annulet / Annulet Trefoil mules to thelisting of known combinations of Henry VI Annulet Trefoil pennies. (Click to read article)
BNS Research Blog 