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Pattern Halfcrown. - Tower mint, Pattern Halfcrown, unsigned, in silver, as Gp III, mm. portcullis, King seated left on horseback, holding sword, sash flies from waist, CAROLVS D G MAG BRIT FRAN ET HI REX, rev. CHRISTO AVSPICE REGNO, oval garnished shield, ornate scrolls flanking mintmark, rosette stops between words, edge plain, 15.44g/12h (Bull 208/26 (2+2-3), this coin; SCBI Brooker 1264, this coin; N 2696; S –). Possibly machine-made on a full round flan, an exceptional strike of the very finest style, UNIQUE and with a provenance stretching back 200 years. Ex Brian Dawson.
Provenance: T. Dimsdale Collection, Sotheby Auction, 6-22 July 1824, lot 998; Lt-W. Durrant Collection, Sotheby Auction, 19-28 April 1847, lot 593; J.B. Bergne Collection, Sotheby Auction, 20-31 May 1873, lot 846; S. Addington Collection; H. Montagu Collection, Part II, Sotheby Auction, 13-20 November 1896, lot 363; J.G. Murdoch Collection, Part III, Sotheby Auction, 8 June 1903, lot 298; G. Hamilton-Smith Collection, Part III, Glendining Auction, 23-5 May 1927, lot 301; R.C. Lockett Collection, Part II, Glendining Auction, 11-17 October 1956, lot 2285; J.G. Brooker Collection.
Images courtesy of DNW. Bull (p.471) mentions a second specimen, but confuses it with this one, which is believed to be the only example extant and was offered in Hamilton-Smith’s last sale of coins in 1927, not his first sale in 1913 |