Spink
Auction 18012 3 Jul 2018
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(x) Wessex, Alfred (871-899), Halfpenny, 0.47g, Two Line ('Guthrum') type, Tilwine, el-fr-ed-re around beaded inner circle containing small plain cross, rev. tilv - vvin, in two lines divided by a central pellet, additional pellets above and below (Grierson, Halfpennies and Third-Pennies of King Alfred, in BNJ XXVIII (1955-57), no. 34; SCBI 1 (Fitzwilliam Museum), 558, same dies; N.640; S.1068), surfaces slightly porous, good very fine, extremely rare.
Provenance:
Purchased from Baldwin, November 1991
Locket, part X, Glendining, 26-27 April 1960, lot 3636 (illustrated), 'extremely fine and extremely rare', £40
Possibly from Carlyon-Britton (through Spink?) and if so almost certainly from the Stamford, Lincolnshire, hoard, discovered 25 August 1902
Part of the Stamford hoard immediately went missing.
'The account of these given to the police was that they had been ''lost'' by their holder on his journey to London from Stamford, and Greuber said plainly that he believed them to have been ''lost'' in such a manner as would make their ultimate recovery possible by the ''loser''.
In the decade 1913-23 no fewer than 30 'halfpennies' of Alfred changed hands at public auctions or appeared in dealers lists. Nine of them were coins already known in the nineteenth century; the remaining 21 were completely new, and no provenance was for the moment assigned to them. A number were types found at Stamford for the first time; all were much alike in external appearance; and their Stamford origin cannot be doubted. By the thirties all reticence was thrown aside, and when they appeared in the sale-room their Stamford origin was freely admitted. Almost without exception they are known to have passed through the hands of Major Carlyon-Britton - 13 were included in his three sales of 1913, 1916, and 1918 - and it seems to me probable that at some time or other, and apparently as early as 1904, he had aquired the 'lost' portion of the Stamford hoard and that those not included in his sales were disposed of privately.' Grierson, BNJ XXVIII (1955-57), pp. 485-486.
In his list of the Halfpennies from the Stamford hoard, Grierson lists four by Tilwine with this reverse type. One went to the British Museum at the time (BM VI-15). Two further examples with this reverse appeared in Carlyon-Britton auctions. The first was included in the first sale (17-21 November 1913), lot 355, and went to the Fitzwilliam Museum (SCBI 1, no. 558). It is a die duplicate of the present coin. The second, in the second sale (20-24 November 1916), lot 944, went to Drabble and then to Christopher Blunt. The Blunt collection was aquired by the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1990 (this coin = CM 1990-1-253). This is also a die duplicate of the present coin.
This leaves only one specimen, the present coin, not in a national collection. Unfortunately its history before appearing in the Lockett sale in 1960 is not recorded, but Halfpennies of this type were listed in the Spink Numismatic Circular on no less than seven occasions between 1916 and 1930. The coins are not illustrated, and the weight is given for only one (SNC 1920, no. 77826, 7.2 grains), so it is impossible to know how many different coins are listed. The only clue that they might not always be the same coin might be that two are described as EF and the others are all described as FDC. It is most probable that this is where Lockett purchased his example. In the Lockett catalogue the weight is given as 7¼ grains.
Estimate: £2,500 - £3,000
Provenance:
Purchased from Baldwin, November 1991
Locket, part X, Glendining, 26-27 April 1960, lot 3636 (illustrated), 'extremely fine and extremely rare', £40
Possibly from Carlyon-Britton (through Spink?) and if so almost certainly from the Stamford, Lincolnshire, hoard, discovered 25 August 1902
Part of the Stamford hoard immediately went missing.
'The account of these given to the police was that they had been ''lost'' by their holder on his journey to London from Stamford, and Greuber said plainly that he believed them to have been ''lost'' in such a manner as would make their ultimate recovery possible by the ''loser''.
In the decade 1913-23 no fewer than 30 'halfpennies' of Alfred changed hands at public auctions or appeared in dealers lists. Nine of them were coins already known in the nineteenth century; the remaining 21 were completely new, and no provenance was for the moment assigned to them. A number were types found at Stamford for the first time; all were much alike in external appearance; and their Stamford origin cannot be doubted. By the thirties all reticence was thrown aside, and when they appeared in the sale-room their Stamford origin was freely admitted. Almost without exception they are known to have passed through the hands of Major Carlyon-Britton - 13 were included in his three sales of 1913, 1916, and 1918 - and it seems to me probable that at some time or other, and apparently as early as 1904, he had aquired the 'lost' portion of the Stamford hoard and that those not included in his sales were disposed of privately.' Grierson, BNJ XXVIII (1955-57), pp. 485-486.
In his list of the Halfpennies from the Stamford hoard, Grierson lists four by Tilwine with this reverse type. One went to the British Museum at the time (BM VI-15). Two further examples with this reverse appeared in Carlyon-Britton auctions. The first was included in the first sale (17-21 November 1913), lot 355, and went to the Fitzwilliam Museum (SCBI 1, no. 558). It is a die duplicate of the present coin. The second, in the second sale (20-24 November 1916), lot 944, went to Drabble and then to Christopher Blunt. The Blunt collection was aquired by the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1990 (this coin = CM 1990-1-253). This is also a die duplicate of the present coin.
This leaves only one specimen, the present coin, not in a national collection. Unfortunately its history before appearing in the Lockett sale in 1960 is not recorded, but Halfpennies of this type were listed in the Spink Numismatic Circular on no less than seven occasions between 1916 and 1930. The coins are not illustrated, and the weight is given for only one (SNC 1920, no. 77826, 7.2 grains), so it is impossible to know how many different coins are listed. The only clue that they might not always be the same coin might be that two are described as EF and the others are all described as FDC. It is most probable that this is where Lockett purchased his example. In the Lockett catalogue the weight is given as 7¼ grains.
Estimate: £2,500 - £3,000