Ex Archbishop Sharp Collection

CNG 111, Lot: 1105. Estimate $1000. Sold for $1100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

TUDOR. Edward VI. 1547-1553. AR Shilling (33mm, 6.40 g, 9h). Third period; Fine Silver issue. Tower (London mint); im: У. Struck 1551-1553. Crowned bust facing slightly left; rose to left, XII (mark of value) to right / Coat-of-arms over long cross fourchée. North 1938; SCBC 2482. Good VF, rich old tone.

Ex Morton & Eden 91 (7 December 2017), lot 201; Archbishop Sharp Collection (1644-1714).

Dr. John Sharp (1644-1714) was a clergyman who rose through the offices of the Church of England to become Archbishop of York in 1691. Sharp started collecting coins in 1687 and focused his energies primarily on the issues of the British Isles, acquiring many highly important rarities. Sharp was in contact with several other leading numismatists of his age, including Ralph Thoresby, to whom he addressed his manuscript, Observations on the Coinage of England, published in 1785. The great 19th Century numismatist, Rogers Ruding, regarded this work as, “the first systematic treatise ever composed on the subject.” On Sharp's death, the collection was left to his son and was kept together for some 250 years by his descendants. Two dispersals were made in the 1960s: Sotheby, 14 March 1966 (European, Spanish American, together with miscellaneous coins and medals) and Glendinings, 5 October 1977 (British, Charles I to Queen Anne). On 7 December 2018, Morton and Eden sold the coins from Anglo-Saxon times through to James I and some medals. In the words of the late Harry Manville, “Sharp pedigrees are among the oldest available in British numismatics.”