‘Welsh’ Obverse Die

CNG 111, Lot: 1085. Estimate $2000. Sold for $2200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

NORMAN. William I 'the Conqueror'. 1066-1087. AR Penny (20mm, 1.31 g, 7h). Paxs type (BMC VIII). Winchcombe mint; Goldwine, moneyer. Struck circa 1083-1086. Crowned facing bust, holding lis-tipped scepter in right hand; trefoil on shoulder / + GOLDPI(NE) ON WI(NC)L, cross pattée; letters of P A X S in annulets within quarters. Clarke –; cf. SCBI 19 (Bristol & Gloucester), 192 (same rev. die); cf. BMC 1065 (same rev. die); North 850; SCBC 1257. Good VF, toned, hairline crack in center, minor pinhole. A unique issue of considerable interest from a very rare mint.

Ex Baldwin’s FPL (Winter 2012-2013), no. AS058 (£3000); Spink Numismatic Circular CXII.2 (April 2004), no. HS1589.

The NumCirc offering notes that “[t]his remarkable coin is struck from a reverse die of London work (BMC 1065 - same die), and a local obverse die. The obverse die is reminiscent of, but not identical to, the ‘Welsh’ workmanship found at Cardiff (BMC 581-3) and ‘Devitun’ (BMC 883-90). It is quite unrecorded at Winchcombe.”