SCBC Plate Coin

CNG 97, Lot: 1011. Estimate $2000. Sold for $1900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

NORMAN. Henry I. 1100-1135. AR Penny (18mm, 1.32 g, 1h). Annulets and Piles type (BMC iv). Nordwic (Norwich) mint; Howard, moneyer. Struck circa 1105. + hEИRI[C R]EX, crowned facing bust, holding scepter / + hΛPΛRD O N[...]R (?), quatrefoil, with annulet at center and within each limb. Cf. SCBI 21 (Yorkshire), 1245 (same moneyer, BMC ii); BMC –; North 860; SCBC 1265 (this coin illustrated [49th ed.]). VF, areas of weak strike. Strong portrait. Very rare.

Ex Spink Numismatic Circular CXV.6 (December 2007), no. HS3215; W.N. Clarke Collection; Spink Numismatic Circular CXII.2 (April 2004), no. HS 1591; William J. Conte Collection.

The moneyer Howard is known only from Norwich mint issues of William I, William II, and Henry I. Unfortunately, this coin exhibits a flat spot in the reverse legend precisely were the mint name would appear, leaving only the left upright of the N and the unusual final letter. SCBI 21, 1245 interprets this letter as an exceptionally widely spaced E, giving a reading of NORÐE.