Spink
Auction 23107 31 Mar 2023
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The Owen-Rooke Collection | Edward 'the Confessor' (1042-1066), Light Coinage, 'Expanding Cross' Type, Penny, Oxford, Swetman, + EDPE-RD REX, diademed and draped bust left, trefoil-tipped sceptre before, rev, + SPETMAN ON OXENE, expanding cross, annulet at centre, 1.14g, 9h (Charles Lewis Stainer [1904], 'Oxford Silver Pennies' (925-1272), pp. 49-50 not listed; FEJ 654 [Heavy Coinage], same reverse die; SCBI 9 [Ashmolean], 842 [Aethelwig]; SCBI 54, 1141; North 820; BMC V; Spink 1176), with a pleasing cabinet tone, more so to the obverse, portrait well struck-up, about extremely fine, an extremely rare issue for Oxford and on the basis of die pairing an evident transitional issue between Heavy and Light Coinages, with only two other complete examples recorded for this series on EMC.
Provenance
The Owen-Rooke Collection of Oxfordshire Pennies (978-1272)
SCMB, September 1977, E1071* - 'rare, about EF' - £150,
, ,
This cataloguer can trace only three examples of Swetman's 'Expanding Cross' issues at Oxford - two of the later heavy issue, and one in Stockholm of the early 'light issue'. In conversation with Hugh Pagan (pers. comms), he observed: "What indeed is really interesting about your coin is that it would appear to be from the same reverse die as Elmore Jones 654, which belongs by weight to the heavy series, so the coin presumably belongs to the point of transition between the heavy series and the light series, whichever came first". Interestingly, E H Willett, in his Numismatic Chronicle (1875, pp. 323-394), records three coins of Hildebrand's type E (the Expanding Cross type) as recovered from the Walbrook [Queen Victoria St.] 'City' Hoard of 1872. , ,
He notes: 'In the course of excavations carried out on the City in 1872, a very large number of Saxon Pennies were discovered. About 2,800 came into my possession, throught the medium of the late Mr Baily of Gracechurch Street, from whom, however I could obtain no information as to the particulars of the find, the greatest secrecy being observed. In the absence, therefore, of further information as to the exact locality, I have, in the following account, referred to the find as the 'City Hoard', when speaking of it with other collections., ,
The thick coating of verdigris with which the majority were encrusted rendered the task of cleaning and describing the coins somewhat tediousl but this difficulty having been overcome by brushing them after immersion in strong ammonia, I am able to lay a report of the examination before the society., ,
The 2,829 coins thas have been examined by me belong to the following king as under : -, ,
Aethelred II - 4,
Cnut - 19,
Edward the Confessor - 2,798,
Harold II - 1,
William I - 5,
Magnus I of Denmark - 1,
Unknown German - 1
, ,
By this it is seen that the importance of the find is undoubtedly centred in Edward the Confessor, and it is to his coinage, that these notes are mainly directed., ,
Before the discovery of this hoard, which probably exceeded 7,000, the number of Edward the Confessor's coins known was about 3,000, and of these 2,000 were contributed by the Chancton Hoard alone., ,
In the subsequent list, Willett's record painstakingly documents three SPETMAN ON OXENE examples to the minutiae of the ligate NE style of the mint signature, precisely as the example offered here. At the sale of the late Arthur Briggs of Rawden, Leeds (Sotheby, 22 March 1893, lot 223); a job lot of type V Pennies of Edward the Confessor were bought by W Talbot-Ready, at whose sale in 1920 it did not appear. It is possible therefore it is the same coin to be found almost immediately listed by Spink, in the Numismatic Circular, April 1893, no. 4131 - VF - £0.6.6. Whether this Briggs parcel was studied by Willett before 1875 is not immediately clear, but it is noticeable that only the broken 'heavy coinage' specimen from the cabinet of Reverend Charles Campbell († 1983) offered in September 2017 is the only example traced by this cataloguer in the intervening century besides the Seaby Bulletin listing in 1977 when the present coin was acquired. Given the encrustation deposits, it is tempting, if not indisputable to associate the present coin with the Walbrook find too, possibly via the Talbot-Ready and Briggs cabinets.
Estimate: £500 - £800
Provenance
The Owen-Rooke Collection of Oxfordshire Pennies (978-1272)
SCMB, September 1977, E1071* - 'rare, about EF' - £150,
, ,
This cataloguer can trace only three examples of Swetman's 'Expanding Cross' issues at Oxford - two of the later heavy issue, and one in Stockholm of the early 'light issue'. In conversation with Hugh Pagan (pers. comms), he observed: "What indeed is really interesting about your coin is that it would appear to be from the same reverse die as Elmore Jones 654, which belongs by weight to the heavy series, so the coin presumably belongs to the point of transition between the heavy series and the light series, whichever came first". Interestingly, E H Willett, in his Numismatic Chronicle (1875, pp. 323-394), records three coins of Hildebrand's type E (the Expanding Cross type) as recovered from the Walbrook [Queen Victoria St.] 'City' Hoard of 1872. , ,
He notes: 'In the course of excavations carried out on the City in 1872, a very large number of Saxon Pennies were discovered. About 2,800 came into my possession, throught the medium of the late Mr Baily of Gracechurch Street, from whom, however I could obtain no information as to the particulars of the find, the greatest secrecy being observed. In the absence, therefore, of further information as to the exact locality, I have, in the following account, referred to the find as the 'City Hoard', when speaking of it with other collections., ,
The thick coating of verdigris with which the majority were encrusted rendered the task of cleaning and describing the coins somewhat tediousl but this difficulty having been overcome by brushing them after immersion in strong ammonia, I am able to lay a report of the examination before the society., ,
The 2,829 coins thas have been examined by me belong to the following king as under : -, ,
Aethelred II - 4,
Cnut - 19,
Edward the Confessor - 2,798,
Harold II - 1,
William I - 5,
Magnus I of Denmark - 1,
Unknown German - 1
, ,
By this it is seen that the importance of the find is undoubtedly centred in Edward the Confessor, and it is to his coinage, that these notes are mainly directed., ,
Before the discovery of this hoard, which probably exceeded 7,000, the number of Edward the Confessor's coins known was about 3,000, and of these 2,000 were contributed by the Chancton Hoard alone., ,
In the subsequent list, Willett's record painstakingly documents three SPETMAN ON OXENE examples to the minutiae of the ligate NE style of the mint signature, precisely as the example offered here. At the sale of the late Arthur Briggs of Rawden, Leeds (Sotheby, 22 March 1893, lot 223); a job lot of type V Pennies of Edward the Confessor were bought by W Talbot-Ready, at whose sale in 1920 it did not appear. It is possible therefore it is the same coin to be found almost immediately listed by Spink, in the Numismatic Circular, April 1893, no. 4131 - VF - £0.6.6. Whether this Briggs parcel was studied by Willett before 1875 is not immediately clear, but it is noticeable that only the broken 'heavy coinage' specimen from the cabinet of Reverend Charles Campbell († 1983) offered in September 2017 is the only example traced by this cataloguer in the intervening century besides the Seaby Bulletin listing in 1977 when the present coin was acquired. Given the encrustation deposits, it is tempting, if not indisputable to associate the present coin with the Walbrook find too, possibly via the Talbot-Ready and Briggs cabinets.
Estimate: £500 - £800