Sovereign Rarities Ltd
Auction 4 21 Sep 2021
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Commonwealth (1649-60), silver Crown of Five Shillings, 1652, English shield within laurel and palm branch, legends in English language, initial mark sun, .THE. COMMON. WEALTH. OF. ENGLAND., all Ns struck over inverted Ns, rev. English and Irish shields, value .V. above, beaded circle and legend surrounding, date at top, .GOD. WITH. VS., 30.02g (Bull- ; ESC- ; N.2721; S.3214). Faint stop visible between COMMON and WEALTH, the legend variety unlisted, choice extremely fine with residual lustre, of the highest rarity and near-unparalleled quality.
The Commonwealth coins were the first in the British series to carry legends in English as opposed to Latin. Often crudely struck on irregular planchets, over the course of the 12-year period of their production many of these types also saw poor die arrangement with errors being commonplace. The most popular error types amongst collectors are those that radically alter the legends, such as the omission or misplacement of letters; it can often be difficult to properly identify such errors due to the frequency of double-striking which disguises the original die arrangement.
The present piece would appear to have a legend variety known for Shillings but previously undescribed for Crowns, the separation of COMMON and WEALTH into two component words separated by a faint stop. Unlisted in all major reference works, this piece is extremely rare.
Provenance:
Ex Glendining, 10th October 1989, lot 1260
Ex Harrington Manville, Spink Coin Auction 154, 12th July 2001, lot 5
(£6,000-£8,000)
The Commonwealth coins were the first in the British series to carry legends in English as opposed to Latin. Often crudely struck on irregular planchets, over the course of the 12-year period of their production many of these types also saw poor die arrangement with errors being commonplace. The most popular error types amongst collectors are those that radically alter the legends, such as the omission or misplacement of letters; it can often be difficult to properly identify such errors due to the frequency of double-striking which disguises the original die arrangement.
The present piece would appear to have a legend variety known for Shillings but previously undescribed for Crowns, the separation of COMMON and WEALTH into two component words separated by a faint stop. Unlisted in all major reference works, this piece is extremely rare.
Provenance:
Ex Glendining, 10th October 1989, lot 1260
Ex Harrington Manville, Spink Coin Auction 154, 12th July 2001, lot 5
(£6,000-£8,000)