Richmond Castle Mint

CNG 111, Lot: 1090. Estimate $1000. Sold for $2750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

NORMAN. Stephen. 1135-1154. AR Penny (20.5mm, 1.38 g, 6h). Cross moline (Watford) type (BMC i). Richmond Castle mint; Bertoaldus, moneyer. Struck circa 1136-1145. Crowned bust right, holding lis-tipped scepter / [+ BERT]OLD : ON R : [...], cross moline. Mack 8 corr. (mint); SCBI 48 (Northern), 1174; North 873; SCBC 1278. VF, toned, area of weak strike, a few bends at edge. Very rare.

Ex Alan Williams Collection; Coin Galleries (15 November 1989), lot 1100.

This issue was previously thought to have been the product of the Castle Rising mint until a lead striking from Bertold’s dies was discovered on the river bank below Richmond Castle in 1987 (cf. M. Allen, “The mints and moneyers of England and Wales, 1066-1158” in BNJ 82 [2012], p. 114, n. 686).