Henry VI’s Last Quarter Noble

Triton XXII, Lot: 1410. Estimate $1500. Sold for $1900. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LANCASTER. Henry VI. First reign, 1422-1461. AV Quarter Noble (19mm, 1.77 g, 3h). Leaf-trefoil issue. Tower (London) mint; im: lis. Struck circa 1436-1438. (lis) Һ ЄnRIC’ (fleur) DI’ · GRΛ’ · RЄX · ΛnGL’ (trefoil stops), coat-of-arms; small lis above; all within polylobe with trefoil cusps / (lis) ЄXΛLTBITVR In [...] GLORIΛ (annulet stops), cross fleurée with lis at ends and in center; in each angle, lion passant left over trefoil; all within polylobe. Whitton, Heavy –; Schneider 334 var. (rev. legend; same obv. die); North 1483; SCBC 1831. Good VF, minor striking perforations. Extremely rare. Apparently only the second known example fo this type. The last Quarter Noble issued by Henry VI.

Ex Sotheby (16 November 2000), lot 516. Found Middleton, Staffordshire, 1998.

The end of the Burgundian alliance in 1435 and loss of Paris to the forces of Charles VII the following year left the English position in France in a perilous state. The consequent economic decline resulted in a steep decline in output, particularly of gold, from the English mints.