A very rare gold penny dating back to the reign of England’s King Henry III is expected to be sold for as much £400,000 during an auction happening this weekend.
The coin was discovered last September by an amateur metal-detectorist near the village of Hemyock in the county of Devon. It is one of only eight coins of this make to have been found, as they were part of a special collection minted in the year 1257. Weighing 2.95 grams, the coin depicts Henry sitting on an ornate throne, holding an orb and sceptre.
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Photo courtesy Spink and Son
David Carpenter, Professor of Medieval History at King’s College London, explains that with this coin “Henry broke almost entirely with convention. All the coins minted since 1066 had simply shown the head of the king along with his name and abbreviated latin titles. On the reverse, since the reign of King Stephen, there had been a cross with the name of the moneyer. Henry, a connoiseur of art and architecture, evidently knew the importance of his own personal propaganda. In his silver recoinage of 1247, he had refined the royal portrait and indicated his own pedigree as Henry ‘the third’ or ‘TERCIUS REX’. Now, however, he would go even further. In designing the new specie, he employed the services of his Royal Goldsmith, William FitzOtto of Gloucester. This already experienced moneyer of the London mint since 1253 left the reverse imagery largely unchanged, with a voided central cross dividing rose mouldings encircled by his own name.
“However the obverse of the coin was radically new. Now it depicted the king sitting elegantly on his throne, holding the symbols of state with his orb and sceptre. Henry here was modelling the imagery of his patron saint, Edward the Confessor. In Wales, in England, perhaps one day in Sicily, Henry’s coin thus carried a message about the majesty of his own kingship. Even if few realised the link with the Confessor, for Henry it was evidently of the utmost importance. The coin was therefore his offering to his patron saint. In return, the Confessor would surely give his blessing to all the expenditure the coins now made possible.”
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Photo courtesy Spink and Son
Pre-bidding for the coin has already reached £250,000, but the final price will be determined at a live online auction being held by Spink and Son Auctioneers, which will take place on Sunday, January 23rd at 5 PM GMT. Click here for more details.
Gregory Edmund, Senior Numismatist and Auctioneer at Spink and Sons adds, ‘we have the immense privilege of celebrating that long-held trust and reputation by auctioning this latest spectacular find en par with those previous magnificent discoveries in a special evening sale on Sunday, 23 January 2022.’
A very rare gold penny dating back to the reign of England’s King Henry III is expected to be sold for as much £400,000 during an auction happening this weekend.
The coin was discovered last September by an amateur metal-detectorist near the village of Hemyock in the county of Devon. It is one of only eight coins of this make to have been found, as they were part of a special collection minted in the year 1257. Weighing 2.95 grams, the coin depicts Henry sitting on an ornate throne, holding an orb and sceptre.
David Carpenter, Professor of Medieval History at King’s College London, explains that with this coin “Henry broke almost entirely with convention. All the coins minted since 1066 had simply shown the head of the king along with his name and abbreviated latin titles. On the reverse, since the reign of King Stephen, there had been a cross with the name of the moneyer. Henry, a connoiseur of art and architecture, evidently knew the importance of his own personal propaganda. In his silver recoinage of 1247, he had refined the royal portrait and indicated his own pedigree as Henry ‘the third’ or ‘TERCIUS REX’. Now, however, he would go even further. In designing the new specie, he employed the services of his Royal Goldsmith, William FitzOtto of Gloucester. This already experienced moneyer of the London mint since 1253 left the reverse imagery largely unchanged, with a voided central cross dividing rose mouldings encircled by his own name.
“However the obverse of the coin was radically new. Now it depicted the king sitting elegantly on his throne, holding the symbols of state with his orb and sceptre. Henry here was modelling the imagery of his patron saint, Edward the Confessor. In Wales, in England, perhaps one day in Sicily, Henry’s coin thus carried a message about the majesty of his own kingship. Even if few realised the link with the Confessor, for Henry it was evidently of the utmost importance. The coin was therefore his offering to his patron saint. In return, the Confessor would surely give his blessing to all the expenditure the coins now made possible.”
Pre-bidding for the coin has already reached £250,000, but the final price will be determined at a live online auction being held by Spink and Son Auctioneers, which will take place on Sunday, January 23rd at 5 PM GMT. Click here for more details.
Gregory Edmund, Senior Numismatist and Auctioneer at Spink and Sons adds, ‘we have the immense privilege of celebrating that long-held trust and reputation by auctioning this latest spectacular find en par with those previous magnificent discoveries in a special evening sale on Sunday, 23 January 2022.’
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