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Lot 144
British Coins, Victoria, pattern crown, 1837, in gold, by Bonomi, plain edge with tiny incuse capital T (probably for ‘Thomas’) and, on opposite side of edge, tiny incuse number 4, sunken designs both sides, VICTORIA REG DEI GRATIA incuse, Greek-style portrait of the young queen l., the date 1837, also incuse, split into two digits on either side of truncation, rev. BRITT MINERVA / VICTRIX FID DEF incuse, split vertically in the field, full-length helmeted Britannia in flowing gown and holding body-length trident r., extended right hand supporting classic Victory image, Royal shield partially obscured but glowing behind lower gown, on each rim a border of tiny stars (W&R.364 [R5]; ESC.320A [R5, 6 struck]; Bull 2613, ‘weight of 5 sovereigns’; L&S.14.2, 22-ct gold), certified and graded by NGC as Mint State 66, virtually as struck with toned, frosted surfaces *ex Glendining, 30 April 1972, lot 379 This is the actual piece illustrated in Wilson & Rasmussen. This intriguing, large gold coin has mystified many collectors since it first appeared in 1893. Dated 1837 and the size of a silver crown, it occurs in a variety of metals but its style had never been seen by any numismatist over the course of more than five decades since its apparent date of issue, 1837. Sceptical collectors at first rejected it as a fake, and this opinion continued largely unquestioned until the 1960s. Other collectors, finding its unique design appealing, called it a medal and eagerly bought up specimens as they appeared for sale. Research over the intervening years, however, ended the controversy and revealed that it was privately minted but is collectible as a legitimate pattern crown of Queen Victoria. Examples struck in gold, which are exceedingly rare as only 6 were struck, are now viewed as among the most alluring and important of Victorian pattern crowns. In truth, the Bonomi patterns are indeed a web of fact and fiction, and they remain misunderstood by many. The coins bear a Greco-Roman-Egyptian inspired design: on the obverse, a diademed portrait of the young Queen Victoria, her hair coiled into a bun, facing left, clearly resembling an Egyptian princess. She wears a dangling earring and a thin tiara. In 1837, as the date on this coin suggests, Victoria was still a princess for some months before the crown passed to her upon the death of her uncle, King William IV. She was only 18 years old at the time. On the reverse, Britannia appears standing (not seated, as was tradition), presented as the Greco-Roman goddess Minerva holding Victory in her hand. All in all, the emblematic designs are elegant and suggestive of themes which captured the British public’s imagination circa 1837. Despite the visual appeal of the Bonomi crowns, their means of manufacture remained mysterious for decades after their appearance. Derisive criticism of their origin accompanied examples offered at auction until the late 1960s, and occur even today, but the information in Linecar & Stone’s reference, English Proof and Pattern Crown-Size Pieces, published in 1968, essentially ended the controversy. The book cited the research of Capt. Pridmore, who had discovered that the proceedings of the Numismatic Society of London’s meeting of November 16, 1837, had disclosed the origin of this pattern. The discussion at that meeting mainly focused on the incuse method employed in the minting of these pieces, the intention being to seek to lengthen the life of the coinage by holding back obliteration, or wear from use. That was the primary purpose behind the design: to ‘defy injury’ to the coin’s images during use in commerce. No further proof is really required to label this piece a true pattern. The proceedings of that 1837 meeting mention that Joseph Bonomi, gentleman, was a traveller in Egypt, and an antiquary. They state that Bonomi had designed what he called a medallion in ‘incavo-relievo’ style which would ‘maintain’ the queen’s image for a national coinage. Bonomi’s design was described in the proceedings as showing the queen wearing a tiara on which appeared the royal Uraeus of the pharaohs (a sacred serpent, the cobra, their image of supreme power), and that the surrounding stars of the borders represented the Egyptian emblem of the heavens. The idea of encircling so as to protect was an ancient one. The date of 1837 was meant to represent Victoria’s age at her accession. Finally, the proceedings stated that the reverse inscription, or legend as we call it today, combines the name of a celebrated Egyptian queen with that of the British queen, and includes national emblems. The design for this so-called medallion was never submitted to the authorities of the Crown for consideration as a coin, and examples in any metal rarely appeared for sale until the 20th century. So, the question remains: when and where were they made? Pridmore also revealed that, in May 1893, an advertisement appeared in a publication in England called Numismatology which at last provided some facts about the issuance of the now-famous Bonomi crowns. The 1893 advertisement revealed that the die-sinker was none other than Theophilus Pinches, and that in the same year his well-known company produced a number of pieces in aluminum (or ‘white metal’), tin, copper, bronze, silver, and even gold. Back in 1837, when the coin was designed, Joseph Bonomi had sent nothing more than a cast of his proposed crown to the Numismatic Society. He had not struck any examples. On the cast, Britannia is not shown holding the long trident that appears on the struck pieces. The Pinches pieces were engraved using the cast as the model but added the trident, and also changed the original larger, elongated stars of the borders to small, uniform-sized stars. The 1893 advertisement offered the struck silver pieces for 21 shillings apiece, and included information (some of it nothing but imaginative advertising, for the purposes of selling the coins) indicating that the date of manufacture was 1893, and that all were produced under the auspices of J. Rochelle Thomas. From this source, we know that Thomas engaged the Pinches firm to engrave the dies and to strike the pieces, which in their incuse state faithfully carried out the original concept of the inventor, to use Thomas’s own words. The designs were sunk below the surface, a style that had never been used before and in fact was not used again until the early 20th century on two denominations of U.S. gold coins. In his advertisement, Thomas stated that 10 pieces were struck in white metal. He described his own product as being ‘specimen proofs’, although the presently offered coin has been graded as Mint State. Thomas further stated that the total mintage, in all metals, was 196 pieces. Linecar & Stone, as well as Pridmore, believed that additional pieces were made to order shortly after the 1893 advertisement appeared. However, they concluded that the final mintage figures are as follows: 150 in silver, 10 in tin, 10 in bronze, 10 in copper, 10 in aluminum or white metal, and 6 in 22-carat gold (each weighing the equivalent of five sovereigns, all numbered on the edge).
Lot 21
Ancient Coins, Byzantine Coins, Arab-Byzantine, Anonymous, but probably temp. of Mu’awiya bin Abi Sufyan (AH 41-60/661-680 CE), dechristianised imitation gold solidus of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, standing figures of Heraclius, Heraclius Constantine and Heraclonas, rev. VICTORIA AVGUB, column on four steps with the letters I and A in the left and right fields, in ex. CONOB, (Constantinople) the conventional mint name, wt. 4.23gms. (A.354B; Walker p.18:54 for type, but does not record for letter A; Bernardi 4), about extremely fine and of the highest rarity This, like the other dechristianised solidi, is an enigmatic and challenging coin. The best discussion of this coinage is found in George Miles’ article Earliest Arab Gold Coinage in the American Numismatic Society Museum Notes No 13. In this article, which still has scholarly validity, Miles records four types of dechristianised solidi. The first of the Emperor Phocas, the second of the young Emperor Heraclius with his son Heraclius Constantine, still a boy. The third shows a much older and heavily bearded emperor with a clean shaven Heraclius Constantine. The fourth is the same type as this piece, except that on Miles’ coin the reverse field bears the letters I and B which appear to left and right of the pole on steps. The dumbbell-like object on top of the pole turns it into a crude version of the Tau cross, thus the resulting design is a crude but virtually identical copy of the Byzantine original, but lacks the crossbar seen on the Christian cross. As such it represents a critical break from conventional Byzantine iconography. This coin, a type which is very rarely encountered today, is well struck and one of the best-preserved specimens recorded. The coin itself gives little obvious clue as to its purpose and origins, but in the historical context of what little is known about Byzantine-Arab relations at the time of its striking, the following observations can be made. There were two occasions when Mu’awiya was obliged to pay tribute to the Byzantines. One was in the year 659 CE when the payment supposedly amounted to a thousand nomismata, a slave and a horse every day. The second was in 678 CE when Mu’awiya was forced to agree to a very harsh treaty that obliged him to make an annual payment to the Byzantine emperor of three thousand nomismata, fifty prisoners and fifty horses. At the same time, and during the same reign, Mu’awiya tried to introduce a dechristianised gold coinage for circulation in Syria. It is also recorded that the Byzantine government refused to accept coinage that did not bear a faithful representation of the Christian cross, and the same was also said of its reception by the largely Christian inhabitants of Syria. This rejection by both the Byzantine authorities and the Syrian population would certainly account for the very great rarity of these coins today. But which of the four types of solidi were intended for tribute to the Byzantine and which for local circulation in Syria is unknown, and neither Miles nor any other previous or subsequent authority has questioned how these four types can be differentiated from one another. Neither historical nor local traditions give us any idea as to how this problem can be solved, but the iconography of the coins themselves may suggest an answer. The originals of all four types certainly circulated widely in Syria, which depended on Byzantine gold and copper coinage to support their monetary needs for both large transactions and everyday purchases. The originals of the first three types were undoubtedly well known to the inhabitants of Syria and, with only minor alterations in their design, Mu’awiya could expect them to be accepted in circulation. In its original form the fourth type, with its Christian and imperial iconography, was struck in great quantities by the Byzantines and would have been familiar to the general public. However, one expert has suggested that on this dechristianised piece the three figures have lost their imperial trappings and appear as tribute bearers, such as the three magi bringing their gifts. The present cataloguer agrees with this interpretation. Once the tribute reached Constantinople, these gold coins would have been rejected, melted and re-struck into conventional Byzantine solidi, which would account for their extreme rarity. This hypothesis is reinforced by the two letters I and A, flanking the pole of the reverse, because they could stand for the first tribute payment of the year A. The other example of this piece carries the letters I and B, which would have been the tribute for the year B. In this cataloguer’s opinion Mu’awiya’s treaty obligations to the Byzantines would have taken priority over the issuance of a purely local coinage for his own subjects who had, up to this time, been able to supply their domestic needs through existing coinage stocks. This extremely rare piece satisfies Miles’ observations on the earliest Arab gold coinage and it may be regarded as the precurser of all the later Islamic gold coinage. References: Miles, G: Earliest Arab Gold Coinage in the American Numismatic Society Museum Notes, No 13, 1967; Foss, S: Arab Byzantine Coins: An Introduction with a Catalogue of the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Harvard University Press 2008
Lot 833
A group of turquoise, Navajo and Mexican silver jewellery, comprising a Navajo turquoise bear necklace, a further similar turquoise necklace with silver clasp, a turquoise bangle, a further turquoise, coloured glass and black bead necklace, and a silver necklace with Mexican silver basket weave square pendant. (5)
Lot 103
A 9ct yellow gold curb link bracelet, hallmark rubbed, possibly Birmingham import mark, suspending eleven various charms, to include a violin, a church, a teddy bear etc., one hallmarked, one stamped 9ct, with a hallmarked 9ct yellow gold padlock clasp, together with three detached charms, total lot weight approx. 25.6g.
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