Charles I Scarborough Siege Shilling, NGC XF45, provenance back to 1888

Charles I (1625-49), silver obsidional Shilling, Scarborough Castle, type III siege piece with stamped denomination "S" over "I" below image of fortified castle gateway with border of pellets vertical each side, all impressed into a square flan with corners bevelled and cut flat to the weight of one shilling, weight 6.00g (Nelson N.2652g; S.3175). Toned with some attrition to edges, castle gateway pleasantly detailed and a nice exact denomination for a Scarborough siege piece, has been slabbed and graded by NGC as XF45 and of the highest rarity, one of the rarest shillings in the entire series of this denomination.

NGC certification 8220534-001 with "Ex. Lockett/Marsham" label.

These siege coins do not have any legends or wording and 18th Century numismatists first thought these pieces may have related to Colchester Castle. This was updated by Victorian numismatists and Dr Philip Nelson who attributed this type of castle gateway design to Beeston Castle, on no other viable grounds than it resembled the architecture, and not taking into account it being too smaller a stronghold for the need for an internal Royalist coinage at time of siege (B.N.J. 1905 pages 303-305 records 11 denominations).

The enigmatic nature of these pieces fits much better with the Scarborough series which runs through three groupings in the Standard Catalogue of which this is the last type. At times of duress cut and stamped pieces of metal passed as currency within fortifications and punched with value to whatever their silver weight equated. The type I Scarborough crown with a larger view of the castle frontage is identified with the addition of the "SC" letters for Scarborough Castle. The run of type II denominations fits in with this series as they show a depiction of a similar castle frontage and run through thirteen denominations from 5 shillings and 8 pence to a lowly Groat with all sorts of values between. The type III group which all feature a castle gateway as per this Shilling run through fourteen different denominations from a 2 Shillings and 2 Pence to a Sixpence, perhaps telling that not such high denominations as before (type II) were possible, as the siege reached a later stage perhaps towards final conclusion. We have never stocked a Scarborough siege piece before due to their great rarity, and the obsidional coinage is one that has always attracted much study and theory which only more future archaeological evidence can add. Edward Besly in his revised Coins and Medals attributes all of these castle gateway pieces as Scarborough type II.

Historically Scarborough was held by Sir Hugh Chomley for the King and after the loss of York and the Battle of Marston Moor he used the 21 day truce to gather harvest and fortify the town in readiness for a protracted siege. This was also in reaction to an unfavourable reply of 26^th August 1644 to 19 propositions he had sent to the Committee of Both Kingdoms. Sir John Meldrum laid siege to the town and castle and by February 1645 Chomley abandoned the town and retreated into the castle stronghold. Sir John shortly lost his life storming the castle and Chomley and his garrison held out until after dire straits of survival they surrendered on 22^nd July 1645 with terms. The contemporary account of the introduction of siege money at Scarborough is detailed in Chomley's memoir prepared some two years later. This tells us that the soldiers had 12 pence per week besides diet and 6 pence for every days labour which consumed much money with the governor bearing the costs. Once he could not borrow any more, the contribution of plate was the only solution and the memoir describes plate being cut into pieces and passed current according to their weights, some having the stamp of a broken castle upon them. As Besly says the memoir combines "beautifully" with the genuine surviving pieces of "both types", he combines types I and II in the standard catalogue listing with the "SC" type Crown amalgamated with the other very similar broken castle pieces and his type II as the standard catalogue type III. All genuine pieces of Scarborough have very limited numbers of surviving pieces with many unique. There is at least one other shilling denominated piece of this type III existing as shown in the Nelson article and publication on a more unevenly shaped quadrilateral. This coin graded with the assurance of NGC has an impeccable provenance as listed below:

Provenance:

Ex Hon. Robert Marsham-Townshend, Sotheby, 19^th-26^th November 1888, lot 669, sold for £30 to dealer W. J. Webster.

Ex H. Webb, first portion, Sotheby, 9-14^th July 1894, lot 595 sold for £25 to Bliss.

Ex Thomas Bliss, Sotheby, 22-25^th March 1916, lot 459 as Beeston Castle, sold for £35/10/- to Spink.

Ex Virgil M. Brand, Chicago Brewer, inventory number 80102, collection sold post-mortem from 1932.

Sold via private treaty through Burdette G. Johnson to A. H. Baldwin, April 1935 who sold it on to Lockett.

Ex Richard Cyril Lockett, English part III, Glendining, 4-6^th November 1958, lot 3533, sold for £340.

Ex Clonterbrook Trust (G. D. Lockett), Glendining, 7^th June 1974, lot 261, sold for £3,600.

Ex Agricola Collection (Rev. R. S. James), Spink Coin Auction 31, 12^th October 1983, lot 233.

Ex (Rev. R. S. James), Spink Coin Auction 63, 28-29^th March 1988, lot 357, sold for £4,000