Heritage World Coin Auctions
Long Beach Signature Sale 3067 6-7 Sep 2018
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Great Britain
Charles II Proof Pattern 1/2 Penny ND (1670) PR58 Brown NGC, Peck-404 (VS). Plain edge. A very scarce and enticing pattern for Charles's Halfpenny, and certainly conservatively graded; this specimen was produced from low-relief dies and thus is essentially as-struck. This pattern uses the same obverse punch as the currency issue Halfpenny which followed two years later, whilst the reverse bears "BRITANNIA" within the exergue in place of the date. The introduction of milled coinage within Charles II's reign heralded a complete overhaul of the then-current coin designs, including an initiative to re-introduce Britannia on the copper Farthings and Halfpennies, a figure absent since her first depiction on Roman coinage. Charles II, infatuated with his bride's lady-in-waiting Frances Stewart who refused to become his mistress, had her used as a model for Britannia, and there she remained on the reverse of the copper coinage until decimilisation in 1961. Struck slightly off-center on a large flan, the planchet a chocolate-brown with ethereal white luster blooming within the fields and shrouding the devices. A superb and romantic pattern Halfpenny.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 1000-1200 USD
Charles II Proof Pattern 1/2 Penny ND (1670) PR58 Brown NGC, Peck-404 (VS). Plain edge. A very scarce and enticing pattern for Charles's Halfpenny, and certainly conservatively graded; this specimen was produced from low-relief dies and thus is essentially as-struck. This pattern uses the same obverse punch as the currency issue Halfpenny which followed two years later, whilst the reverse bears "BRITANNIA" within the exergue in place of the date. The introduction of milled coinage within Charles II's reign heralded a complete overhaul of the then-current coin designs, including an initiative to re-introduce Britannia on the copper Farthings and Halfpennies, a figure absent since her first depiction on Roman coinage. Charles II, infatuated with his bride's lady-in-waiting Frances Stewart who refused to become his mistress, had her used as a model for Britannia, and there she remained on the reverse of the copper coinage until decimilisation in 1961. Struck slightly off-center on a large flan, the planchet a chocolate-brown with ethereal white luster blooming within the fields and shrouding the devices. A superb and romantic pattern Halfpenny.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 1000-1200 USD