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JM33690

Harold II Penny, PAX type, Bridport Mint, moneyer Patem, only three known

Regular price £17,500
Regular price Sale price £17,500

Harold II (6thJan-14thOct 1066),silver Penny, Bridport Mint, Moneyer Hwæteman, crowned bust left with sceptre, legend and beaded outer circle surrounding, legend commences at top, +HΛROLD REXΛ rev. PΛX between beaded lines horizontal at centre, beaded circles and legend surrounding, legend commences at left +PΛTEMON ON PRI, weight 1.28g (N.836; S.1186).Toned, the usual softness in the neck vicinity. Bold very fine, the reverse extremely fine, with a nice old provenance, excessively rare.

This coin was unique for the King at this mint place until the discoveries of the Chew Valley Hoard and the Braintree Hoard both of which contained a single example. Additionally one of the accompanying tickets in the hand of F. Elmore-Jones states that J. J. North listed this mint place for Harold II based solely on the strength of this coin as it had originally been wrongly identified as Warwick at the time of the Montagu sale.

The coinage of Harold II all have the same "Peace" type reverse and a head and neck bust on the obverse, which can sometimes face right or have the sceptre absent. As a type coin of the reign demand for King Harold II remains strong

The fishing port of Bridport in Dorset some 15 miles west of Dorchester first operates as a mint at the time of Aethelstan with a break until the reign of Aethelred II and then runs through to Harold II. The mint only has three moneyers in this reign and may also be connected to the mint signature BREDY which is an old burgh mentioned in the Burghal Hidage. Coins of Bridport for Harold II are excessively rare with three thought to be known, the Chew Valley specimen known to Pagan, this example, and the more recent Braintree Hoard specimen [see, Noonan's, auction 290, lot 1032].

The legends translate as "Harold King of the English" on the obverse and "Hwæteman, of London" on the reverse with "Peace" across the centre.

Provenance:

Ex Hyman Montagu, second portion, Sotheby, 11th-16th May 1896, lot 172 - identified as Warwick in error, purchased by F W Walters for £3/12/-.

Exhibited as Bridport Mint by F. Elmore-Jones, presumably as part of his own collection (with his ticket) on 28th January 1953 at British Numismatic Society meeting and illustrated in BNJ XXVII (1953), plate VIII, coin 3 as ex Montagu and ex Walters' collections when identified as Warwick. However, this coin does not seem to appear in the two Sotheby auction catalogues of Walters' collections in 1913 and 1932.

This coin does not seem to appear for sale in the Elmore-Jones auctions of the seventies and eighties and must have found its way to A. H. Baldwin directly where it was sold from in 1993 as per another ticket with the coin with a sold price at £2,500.

Ex William J. Conte Collection, CNG, Triton VI, 13TH January 2003, lot 1470.

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