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Auction: 5033 - The Colin Adams Collection of Halfcrowns
Lot: 176

Charles I, Oxford mint, Halfcrown, 14.07g., 1643, Oxford horseman walking left, no ground-line below, Oxford plume below, rev. declaration RELIG:PROT:LEG ANG:LIBER:PAR in two lines, three large crude plumes above, date below, double/single pellet stops, four pellets before EXVRGAT, m.m. Oxford plume on obverse only (JGB 885-7 (same obv. die); Morr. A-14 (this coin); N.2413; S.2954) extensive surface flan flaws on obverse, weak in parts, otherwise as struck, very fine for this, an extremely rare and significant variety Estimate £ 800-1,000PROVENANCE: Dix Noonan Webb, Auction 43, 9 October 1999, lot 829 In his seminal paper on the silver coinage of the Oxford mint, BNJ XVI, p.144, Morrieson published a group of six 1643 Halfcrown reverse dies, Morr. 8 to 13, which, though always found in combination with two obverses of normal Oxford style, Morr. A and F, showed the same set of unusual features. On all six dies the declaration was divided into two lines as RELIG:PRO[T]: / LE:AN:LI[B}:PA rather than RELIG:PROT:LEG / ANG:LIBER:PAR, and on all six the plumes on the reverse are of a large crude style. In his subsequent paper on the Bristol mint, BNJ XVIII, p.143, Morrieson re-attributed these six reverse dies to Bristol, Morr. 1-6. After the Royalists under Prince Rupert captured the city on 27 July 1643, two Oxford obverse dies, 1643 A = Bristol 1643 A and 1643 F = Bristol 1643 B, were evidently sent to Bristol where they were paired with reverse dies of a distinctive local character. This clear sequence left one unexplained piece, Morr. 1643 A-14 (this coin). The obverse is struck from one of the two dies sent to Bristol (cf. lot 196 below), and the reverse bears a very close resemblance to the group of six Bristol reverses, with the crucial exception that the declaration is set out in the normal ´Oxford´ format. It was on the latter ground that Morrieson continued to attribute this piece to Oxford, though it remains a curious transitional coin.

Sold for
£750