CNG 90, Lot: 2503. Estimate $200. Sold for $360. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PLANTAGENET. Henry III. 1216-1272. AR Penny (17mm, 1.29 g, 3h). Long cross type, class IIIa. London mint; Nicole, moneyer. Struck 1248-1250. ҺЄ(NR)ICVS RЄX • III’, crowned facing head, with beard of strokes / HICOLЄ OH LVHD, voided long cross, with pellet at center and three pellets in angles. Colchester (1969) 829i (same dies); cf. North 986; cf. SCBC 1362. VF, toned, some porosity. Very rare type with beard of strokes rather than pellets.

From the Marshall Faintich Collection (purchased from A. Murfet, 28 February 2001).

Although the Colchester hoard was discovered in 1969, and reported on in BNJ 1972, the beard of strokes was not recognized even as late as Wren’s 1993 book on the long cross coinage, nor North’s 1994 edition of his book on hammered coinage. In the hoard the type is found only on Class Ib coins from Canterbury (27 examples) and Classes Ia, Ib, and IIIa from London (10 examples). This variety is extremely rare in the marketplace, especially as most of the pieces in Colchester went to the BM (12 of the Canterbury total and 9 of London). At the same time, other museums also acquired coins from the hoard (cf. Colchester (1969) p. 68), so it is likely that the remaining 16 pieces from Colchester are also unavailable. Interestingly, the obverse die used for this coin was also used by the moneyer Henri (cf. Colchester Hoard 691).