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Auction: 5033 - The Colin Adams Collection of Halfcrowns
Lot: 82

Charles I, group II, Halfcrown, 14.68g., Tower, type 2/1b mule, second horseman, smaller figure of king in armour with sword over his shoulder, on taller horse striding left, plume on horse´s head, rose on housing, reads MAG BR FR ET HI, rev. lightly garnished square shield, large plume above, m.m. heart (JGB 295 (same dies); N.2204; S.2768) horseman struck in low relief, faint scratches in obverse field, otherwise a full round coin, evenly toned, very fine for this, a great rarity Estimate £ 2,000-2,500PROVENANCE: V J E Ryan, Glendining, 22 January 1952, lot 1088 R Carlyon-Britton, third collection purchased by Seaby, 1959 Dr E Burstal, 15 May 1968, lot 267 D Duprée, collection purchased en bloc by Spink, 1989 P Hunt, portion of collection purchased privately by Colin Adams, March 2000 Very little silver was coined at the Tower mint in the years 1627 to 1630. Only £9,924 (compared to £234,915 of gold) is recorded in 1627-8 (m.m. castle), £4,834 in 1628-9 (m.m. anchor), £3,630 in 1629-30 (m.m. heart) and £5,050 in 1630-1 (m.m. plume). This compares to £153,997 of silver in 1632-3 (m.m. harp) and £1,642,407 in 1641-2 (m.m. triangle in circle), (cf. SCBI 57, p.17) No Crowns with mintmark heart were struck in 1629-30, and Halfcrowns and Shillings are only known with the Welsh plumes reverse. Just four Halfcrowns survive, all of this remarkable 2/1b transitional issue. The elegant horseman on the obverse, with its renewed use of a rose on the housing, is found on no other Halfcrown type

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