England (1361-69)-C noble Fr-95
This specimen was lot 31157 in Heritage sale 3089 (Dallas, TX, January 2021), where it sold for $16,800. The catalog description[1] noted, "Great Britain. Edward III (1327-1377) gold Noble ND (1361-1369) MS65 NGC, Calais mint, Cross Potent mm, Treaty Period. ЄD | WARD: DЄI: GRA: RЄX: AnGL: DnS: hyB' x Z (retrograde) x AQ | T' (double saltire stops), Edward crowned, standing facing in ship, sword in right hand, shield in left / + IhC: AVTЄm: TRAnSIЄnS: PЄR: mЄDIV: ILLORVm: IBAT (double saltire stops), large floriate cross with C at center, crowned lions in angles, all within polylobe with trefoils in spandrels. A type which hardly comes much finer and rarely more definitively struck, virtually all of the typical areas of weakness observed for the issue absent here, while the mildly broad nature of the flan has left the reverse strike captured nearly in full. Interestingly, while Schneider plates several Treaty-Period coins with an abbreviatory mark after the final T in the obverse legend, these are all for London-minted coins, perhaps suggesting a reused London obverse die was paired with a Calais reverse die. Indeed, the obverse contains considerable die rust, creating a stippled, almost velvety finish over the fields." The noble was introduced by Edward III as part of a monetary reform and was tariffed at eighty pence (6 shillings 8 pence) and was the first gold coin to circulate in several centuries.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: gold, 120 grains (7.8 g), this specimen 7.66 g.
Catalog reference: Fr-95, S-1504, N-1235 (R), Schneider-96 var. (abbreviatory mark after AQT).
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- Lobel, Richard, Mark Davidson, Allan Hailstone and Eleni Calligas, Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins, 1066 to Date, London: Coincraft, 1995.
- Skingley, Philip, ed., Standard Catalogue of British Coins: Coins of England & the United Kingdom, 46th edition, London: Spink & Son, 2011.
- [1]Cristiano Bierrenbach, Warren Tucker and Sam Spiegel, Heritage Auction 3089: NYINC World & Ancient Coins Platinum & Signature Auction - Dallas, featuring the Cape Coral Collection of European Crowns and the Penn Collection, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2020.
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