One consequence of the Gordon Riots of 1780 was that the Bank of England was provided with a nightly Guard by one of the battalions of the Household Brigade. This continued until 1973 when the Guard was replaced by armed police. In 1915 a skilful engraver and enameller produced the numismatic memento of the guard presented here that prompted this short note.
Author: BNS Blog Coordinator
A Die Study of James I Shillings – Second Issue, mm Trefoil – Gary Oddie
This note continues the die studies of James I shillings, working backwards through the mintmarks of the second issue. Here the mintmark Trefoil is presented – issued 28th April 1613 to 20th October 1613. Though a scarce mintmark, six different obverse legends have been found (so far). With just one die pair duplicate the statistics are poor, suggesting there are many more dies to be found.
An Unrecorded Anne Shilling Overdate – 1703/2 – Gary Oddie
This note presents a 1703 VIGO shilling of Queen Anne with an unrecorded overdate 3 over 2. My thanks go to Alan Worby of MH Coins for the images and permission to publish. This prompted a quick search to see if any other specimens could be found. Online archives produced images of 74 specimens of sufficient quality to allow a die study of the reverse dies. A statistical analysis of the 16 different dies suggests that the die count is likely almost complete.
A Die Study of James I Shillings – Second Issue, mm Cinquefoil – Gary Oddie
This note continues the die studies of James I shillings, working backwards through the mintmarks of the second issue. Here the mintmark Cinquefoil is presented – issued 20th October 1613 to 17th May 1615.
How to Kill Two Birds with One Stone – Tony Abramson
What at first was thought to be a previously unrecorded sceat, combining a primary phase Series B-related reverse muled with a secondary phase, bipedal animal reverse, was found near Royston, Hertfordshire in late 2022. Research revealed it to be closely related to an unlisted variety recorded in 1986.
Unrecorded White Metal 18th Century Tokens – Part 4 – Gary Oddie
The previous three notes published on the BNS blog highlighted several series of non-contemporary white-metal late 18th century tokens. Essentially all were found to be cast or struck copies, made using moulds or dies created from genuine tokens. At the 2022 Token Congress five further specimens were brought for analysis by Jeff Rock and Merfyn Williams. These are presented here and fit nicely into the groups presented previously, reconfirming there was a small number of prolific counterfeiters of white metal 18th century tokens, mostly in the early 20th century.
Confirmation of a Charles I Tower Sixpence Sub-Variety – John Davidson
This short note shows that Charles I sixpence variety S2812 can include mintmark harp inaddition to portcullis. This had been suggested previously; here, a further coin using the samereverse die confirms the identification.
A New Merovingian Tremissis – Tony Abramson
There is no catalogued precedent for a metal-detector find of a gold tremissis in North Yorkshire east of York. The inscriptions and reverse monogram currently defy plausible interpretation.
A new Ipswich reverse die in the Last Small Cross issue of Æthelred II – A.G. Bliss
The moneyer Leofsige seems to have struck at Ipswich for a period of around 30 years, mostly in the reign of Æthelred II. This coin details a newly recognised Last Small Cross penny of Ipswich which adds a new reverse die to those previously known for this moneyer.
Henry III Posthumous Class 7 Pennies, Obverse Die Types – Rob Page
This article documents all the known dies of the Henry III Posthumous Class 7 pennies, from all three issuing mints: London, Bury and Durham. It is an update on work I published several years ago, and benefits from the new specimens that have come to light since then. For the obverse dies of Phelip of London, statistical analysis suggests that about two-thirds of the obverse dies may now be known. The article is actually a report output directly from a Microsoft Access database, so any new coins that turn up can be entered into the database and the article quickly updated. I invite readers with any further examples to please contact me using the comments box below.
