Great Britain 1652 half crown
This specimen was lot 30128 in Heritage sale 3029 (New York, January 2014), where it sold for $9,693.75. The catalog description[1] noted, "Commonwealth Halfcrown 1652, Sun mm, MS63 NGC. Call it what you will numerically, this is a jewel of a Commonwealth silver halfcrown, struck on a fine broad flan evidencing only light annealing cracks, with boldly detailed rims and nearly complete denticles. The central designs and legends are all crisp for the issue, including the classic abbreviation of the denomination as 'II.vi' ('two and six' -- two shillings and sixpence, or half a crown). The surfaces are of exquisite quality, and the toning nothing less than a perfect combination of Renaissance colors in many shades of silvery gray, blue and gold, in glinting iridescence. A wonderful piece!" By 1652, king Charles was dead and his son fled into exile but Cromwell was unable to bring unity to England. The gold coins of his rule (unite, double crown and crown) are all rare. The silver coinage is generally more available but often badly made. This half crown is listed with the sun mint mark for 1649-56 and the anchor mint mark for 1658-60. Portrait half crowns also exist.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: silver.
Catalog reference: S-3215, North-2722 (scarce), KM-391.1.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- [1]Bierrenbach, Cristiano, Stuart Levine and Bruce Lorich, Heritage World and Ancient Coins Auction 3029, featuring Selections from the Eric P. Newman Collection, Part III, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2013.
- Lobel, Richard, Mark Davidson, Allan Hailstone and Eleni Calligas, Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins, 1066 to Date, London: Coincraft, 1995.
- Rayner, P. Alan, and Maurice Bull, English Silver Coinage from 1649, 6th Ed., London: Spink & Son, 2015.
- Skingley, Philip, ed., Standard Catalogue of British Coins: Coins of England & the United Kingdom, 46th edition, London: Spink & Son, 2011.
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