Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3030 5-6 January 2014
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Great Britain
Henry IV (1399-1413) gold Noble ND, Heavy Coinage of 1399-1412, S-1706, North-1336b (extremely rare), Schneider-194 (but with 4 leaf-shaped Trefoils in angles around central cross), London mint, new arms on the king's shield with 3 Lis, crescent on rudder, MS63 NGC, a beautiful specimen, lustrous and with a sharp, even strike on a full flan, the important diagnostic features all well detailed, just a few slightly soft areas from striking here and there on each side, toned a warm reddish gold. This is one of the rarest types of Nobles, all of its varieties made not long after the last Plantagenet king passed on. Very small quantities were issued for this first Lancastrian king, and in the first year or two of his reign gold did not circulate at all. The "heavy" gold, including this Noble, was made so pure with extra grains of gold in order to flush the imitations coming from Flanders out of use, but the effort was not successful. Flanders outlawed use of the heavier English gold Noble on the Continent. Merchants in England refused to turn over their lighter Flemish copies for melting, not wishing to take losses on their lesser value. The authorities at the Royal Mint had no choice but to give in, and at Easter 1412 the Crown decided to debase all gold so as to stop the melting of English Nobles and their fractions. Thus, made only in small numbers but also melted, the Heavy Coinage ended. During this reign, only the so-called Light Nobles and their halves were made in quantity, but even they were coined for less than a year due to the king's death on March 20, 1413. Today, all Henry IV Nobles are rare, but the Heavy Coinage coins are especially so. By comparison, the popularly collected Nobles of Edward III are common. In 1413 the kingdom would pass to Henry IV's son -- Henry V -- with little change to the styles used for the coinage, and yet the subtle differences in engraving and especially the die-markings of Henry IV are distinctive. Not many of the surviving gold Nobles of this brief period in history can compare to this glorious piece. In fact, we can locate among sales of the past decade only one nearly comparable specimen, sold in London on September 30, 2010, by St James's Auctions, for £56,000 (about $88,500 at the time, but excluding buyer's fees). Here indeed is a rare bidding opportunity -- a real chance to own this rarity in a splendid state of preservation.
Estimate: 75000-90000 USD
Henry IV (1399-1413) gold Noble ND, Heavy Coinage of 1399-1412, S-1706, North-1336b (extremely rare), Schneider-194 (but with 4 leaf-shaped Trefoils in angles around central cross), London mint, new arms on the king's shield with 3 Lis, crescent on rudder, MS63 NGC, a beautiful specimen, lustrous and with a sharp, even strike on a full flan, the important diagnostic features all well detailed, just a few slightly soft areas from striking here and there on each side, toned a warm reddish gold. This is one of the rarest types of Nobles, all of its varieties made not long after the last Plantagenet king passed on. Very small quantities were issued for this first Lancastrian king, and in the first year or two of his reign gold did not circulate at all. The "heavy" gold, including this Noble, was made so pure with extra grains of gold in order to flush the imitations coming from Flanders out of use, but the effort was not successful. Flanders outlawed use of the heavier English gold Noble on the Continent. Merchants in England refused to turn over their lighter Flemish copies for melting, not wishing to take losses on their lesser value. The authorities at the Royal Mint had no choice but to give in, and at Easter 1412 the Crown decided to debase all gold so as to stop the melting of English Nobles and their fractions. Thus, made only in small numbers but also melted, the Heavy Coinage ended. During this reign, only the so-called Light Nobles and their halves were made in quantity, but even they were coined for less than a year due to the king's death on March 20, 1413. Today, all Henry IV Nobles are rare, but the Heavy Coinage coins are especially so. By comparison, the popularly collected Nobles of Edward III are common. In 1413 the kingdom would pass to Henry IV's son -- Henry V -- with little change to the styles used for the coinage, and yet the subtle differences in engraving and especially the die-markings of Henry IV are distinctive. Not many of the surviving gold Nobles of this brief period in history can compare to this glorious piece. In fact, we can locate among sales of the past decade only one nearly comparable specimen, sold in London on September 30, 2010, by St James's Auctions, for £56,000 (about $88,500 at the time, but excluding buyer's fees). Here indeed is a rare bidding opportunity -- a real chance to own this rarity in a splendid state of preservation.
Estimate: 75000-90000 USD