Hopefully a reader may be able to assist with the quest to discover where the interesting coin illustrated above came from. The earliest appearance of the coin that the author is aware of is the 2001 Spink auction containing coins of the Chown collection, and it is hoped that any reader with earlier auction catalogues containing Hiberno-Scandinavian coins may be able to locate it, and determine it’s original provenance.
Author: BNS Blog Coordinator
The 1962 Dated Proof Sovereign of Elizabeth II – Cameron Maclean
The purpose of this post is to draw attention to the 1962 dated proof sovereign of Elizabeth II as it is unlisted in the British reference catalogues.
Boulton’s 1799 Halfpennies and Farthings – Ian Calvert
Matthew Boulton’s 1799 and 1780 quick and cheap production and distribution of 42 million halfpennies and 4.2 million farthings effectively resolved a serious longstanding counterfeit problem for those coins. The Peck, KH16 coins provide one example of “Pattern” Early Soho coins which might well have been produced for the nascent “commemorative” coin market.
Two (or Three?) Identically Pierced Coins of Edward the Confessor’s Sovereign/Eagles type- Hugh Pagan
This note argues that a pierced coin in the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow, of Edward the Confessor’s Sovereign/Eagles type, Oxford, moneyer Beorhtweald, SCBI 2, 1105, with a secure provenance going back to 1783, is, remarkably, a cast taken in the eighteenth century from a coin of the same type, mint and moneyer in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, SCBI 9, 918, of which the recorded provenance only goes back to 1934.
A sixth Cork groat of the readeption of Henry VI – Gregory Edmund, Christoffer Gompakis and Oisín Mac Conamhna
This article describes a new specimen of a Cork groat of Henry VI, found recently in Pembrokeshire, with novel features that advance understanding of the chronology of the Desmond coinages of the 1470s.
A Die Study of James I Shillings – Second Issue, mm Scallop – Gary Oddie
This note continues the die studies of James I shillings, working backwards through the mintmarks of the second issue. Here the mintmark Scallop is presented. On 30th June 1607 there was £75 0s 10d of silver at the trial of the pyx, representing coins struck since the previous trial on 10th July 1606, almost a year previously. With just 46 specimens struck from 37 obverse and 40 reverse dies, and just 1 die pair duplicate this is already suggesting that the sample is very small and the statistics poor. The usual statistical analysis suggests we might expect 148 obverse and 195 reverse dies, though the poor coverage means that this estimate could be out by a factor of two either way!
A Die Study of Victorian Shillings Dated 1867 – Gary Oddie
The high relief young head portrait of Victoria, combined with die clashing (when the blank feeder missed a blank), resulted in a high die failure rate through the middle of the reign. During the die numbering period (1864-1879) the obverse dies outnumber the reverse dies by about 50%. During 1867 a new obverse die (Davies obv. 5) was briefly introduced. This is in slightly lower relief than the previous portrait (obv. 4). A new reverse die (Davies rev. B) was also cut. The brevity of these issues suggests they were trials, identified by a small pellet above the die number. Following the trials, the stock of earlier 4B dies were used up for the remainder of the year. Starting in 1868 the new 5B dies would be used on the shillings until 1879. This note presents a complete illustrated set of known die combinations and die numbers, allowing the trials of the 5Bs to be seen in the context of
read more A Die Study of Victorian Shillings Dated 1867 – Gary Oddie
A Second Coin of John Digge from the Canterbury Mint – Mike Shott
A second coin of John Digge, the missing Canterbury moneyer.
An Unpublished Waterford Penny Type of Edward IV – Oisín Mac Conamhna
The purpose of this brief note is to record a type of Waterford penny of Edward IV that has not been published before.
A Die Study of Victorian Shillings Dated 1879 – Gary Oddie
In April 1879 the death of T.J. Minton, the engraver responsible for finishing the dies (and adding the die numbers), coincided with and possibly precipitated the end of the use of die numbers. The die numbered shillings of this date are found with two different Obverses (P.J. Davies Obv. 5 and Obv. 6) and the numbered reverses are all Davies type B. New obverse and reverse dies were also made for the issues without die numbers (Obv. 7 and Rev. C) and the stock of old obverse and reverse dies was also used to produce shillings without die numbered reverses. A complete set of known die numbers is presented, with enlarged photographs, along with examples of all known types of the 1879 shillings without die numbers.
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