Jersey 1866 1/26 shilling
This specimen was lot 74085 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, February 2023), where it sold for $120. The catalog description[1] noted, "JERSEY. 1/26 Shilling, 1866. London Mint. Victoria. PCGS MS-64 Red Brown. Tied with just three others for the top spot in the PCGS census, this tantalizing near-Gem offers great lustrous brilliance and provides a chance for what is likely the best that can be found." Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, has been a British dependency since Plantagenet times yet possesses a distinct coinage. Until 1877, it took thirteen pence to make a shilling instead of the usual twelve. Altho this coin was struck to the standard of a typical British half penny, it was theoretically worth less. In 1877, the system was adjusted to match mainland coinage yet copper issues continued to be denominated in fractions of a shilling rather than in pence. This type was struck 1866 and 1870-71. Enough were saved that it is not rare.
Recorded mintage: 173,000.
Specification: bronze.
Catalog reference: KM-4.
- Lobel, Richard, Mark Davidson, Allan Hailstone and Eleni Calligas, Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of the Coins of Scotland, Ireland, Channel Islands & Isle of Man, London: Coincraft, 1999.
- Skingley, Philip, ed., Standard Catalogue of British Coins: Coins of Scotland, Ireland and the Islands (Jersey, Guernsey, Man & Lundy), Pre-Decimal Issues, 2nd edition, London: Spink & Son, 2003.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, February 2023 World Collectors Choice Online Auction, featuring the David Sterling Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2023.
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