HENRY III (1216-1272) – 1257 GOLD PENNY OF 20 PENCE
- January 23, 2022
- by
- Pierre
This 20 pence coin is the first of its Type to be discovered in 260 Years. As the Hemyock soil is finally removed after 765 years to unearth the most important single coin find made in Britain for over a decade, and the first time a new coin of this type has been placed in the archaeological record for almost 260 years. SPINK AND SON did sell the coin in auction.
Coin specifications
Henry III (1216-1272), Gold Penny of 20-Pence, authorised 16 August 1257, London, Willem FitzOtto of Gloucester (The King’s Goldsmith), h | ENRIC ‘ REX III, King seated on ornate throne, holding orb and sceptre, rev. WIL | LEM | ON L | VND, voided long cross with lobed terminals, five-leafed petals and trio of pellets in angles, 2.951g [45.54grns], 4h, no m.m. (Evans [NumChron, 1900], Pl. XI, no. 1 = BM E.2135 same obverse die; Lawrence, [BNJ IX, 1912], pp. 145-79; Fitzwilliam Museum, CM 47.2007 same reverse die; North 1000; Spink 1375), slightly crimped with two deft scratches in left obverse field, and resultant friction and light sporadic ‘stubble rash’, otherwise on a remarkably broad and full weight flan, handsomely uniform and beautifully struck-up, the peripheral details finer even than the sole previous specimen housed in the British Museum since 1810, extremely fine and delightfully ‘fresh’ thus, of the highest rarity and of international significance as a brand new die pairing, one of only four in private hands; a monument in the Medieval series and the most significant contribution to English Numismatics since the discovery of the Double-Leopard, sold at Spink in 2006
£200,000 – £400,000
Provenance
Found near Hemyock (Devon), Sunday 26 September 2021
Recorded with the British Museum [PAS: DEV-C34DA6]