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Click here to subscribeEast Anglian Region, Iceni, silver units (13), “Norfolk God” type (4, ABC 1564, 1567 (3)), Anted (3, ABC 1645), Ecen (6, ABC 1657, 1663 (2), 1672, 1678 (rare “Ecen symbol” type) and 1681), fine to very fine, the “Ecen symbol” type about extremely fine and rare (13). Ex Scole hoard (1982), Christie’s, 18 April 1993.
North East Region, Corieltauvi, Aun Cost, silver unit (ABC 1935; S. 403), weak obverse; Western Region, Dobunni, silver units (2, ABC 2015 and 2021; S. 377); South Western Region, Durotriges, silver stater (ABC 2169; S. 366), fine to very fine (4). Ex Spink, 14 July 2000, lot 2597 part.
North Thames Region, Catuvellauni, Tasciovanus, silver units (2), “Ver” type (ABC 2622; S. 233) and stag type (ABC 2634; S. -), fine, rare; bronze Pegasus type double unit (ABC 2652; S. 241); and bronze unit of Cunobelin (ABC 2918; S. 324), good fine (4). Ex Spink, 4 July 1995, lot 1059.
*French Cochin-China, essai 50 cents, 1879 A, Paris Mint, in silver, Liberty seated left, date below in exergue, Barre beside, rev., value within wreath, ‘ESSAI’ and ‘A’ and anchor mint marks below, edge milled (KM 6; Lec. 24), attractive light tone with darker areas near peripheries, tiny blemish at shoulder and very light hairlines in fields, virtually as struck, lustrous and rare
*Jacopo da Trezzo (c. 1514-89), Mary Tudor, Queen of England (1553-58), silver medal, bust left wearing elaborately embroidered gown, a brooch with pendant pearl at her breast and a cap adorned with jewels; signed below, iac trez, rev., cecis visvs timidis qvies, figure of Peace seated on throne, setting fire to a pile of arms laid before her; below the throne are a cube with two clasped hands on one of its sides and a pair of scales (representing Stability, Unity and Justice); to the left are suppliant figures beset by a storm; to the right are other figures and a round temple (representing the Catholic Church) 64.7mm (Attwood 80; MI I, 72, 20; Arm I, 241, 3; Pollard Bargello 725 = Vannel & Toderi 469; Middeldorf & Steibral pl. 72), the fields chased, an extremely fine early cast with grey toning [ex Clifford collection]. Ex Robert O’Connor, George Street, London, 1960s. Known as the State of Britain medal this was Trezzo’s finest medallic work and Mary’s image isvery close to the portrait painting of the queen by Antonis Mors made around the same time as the medal, in 1554. The Latin reverse inscription translates as “sight to the blind, tranquillity to the fearful”. Examples are most commonly found in bronze but silver specimens exist, most notably those of the Bargello, Florence and the ex Chigi piece recorded by Middeldorf & Steibral. A gold specimen is in the British Museum and another formed part of the Stack collection, sold in these rooms, 9 December 2009, lot 136.
*Victoria, Jubilee, 1887, specimen set of 11 currency coins, comprising gold five-pounds, two-pounds, sovereign and half-sovereign, silver crown, double-florin (Arabic 1), halfcrown, florin, shilling, ‘withdrawn’ sixpence and threepence, gold all extremely fine and well matched, crown only very fine, other silver about extremely fine and toned, all in a contemporary fitted case (11)
*Victoria, Jubilee 1887, specimen set of 11 currency coins, comprising gold five-pounds, two-pounds, sovereign and half sovereign, silver crown, double-florin, halfcrown, florin, shilling, sixpence and threepence, in a modern case by Seaby, five-pounds and two-pounds almost extremely fine, others generally better (11)
*Edward VII, Coronation, 1902, an incomplete ‘short’ matt proof set of coins, comprising gold half-sovereign, silver crown, halfcrown, florin, shilling, sixpence and maundy set, half-sovereign with original matt finish, virtually as struck with a small tone spot, silver extremely fine or better but have been polished, all in fitted case of issue for a short set (9)
Edward VI, Fine silver coinage, shilling, mm y (N.1937; S. 2842), light crease, good fine; James I, shillings (2), First coinage, m.m. thistle, second bust left (N. 2073; S. 2646), obverse slightly pitted, good fine, reverse better and Second coinage, m.m. lis, third bust, about fine; and Charles I, shillings (3), group E (2), m.m.’s tun, crown and York Mint, m.m. lion (S. 2564, 2791 (2), 2873), fair to fine (6)
Miscellaneous hammered silver, etc. (16), Short Cross to James I, including: sixpences, 1562 (milled), 1571, 1575, 1604; groats (3), Edward III, London, Edward IV, York and Henry VIII, Second Coinage; halfgroats (2), Edward III, York, Henry VII, York, Archbishop Savage; Henry VII, sovereign type penny, Durham, Bishop Fox, mixed grades poor to fine, all three groats pierced; and a Nuremburg jeton (17)
George III, shillings (3), 1787 no hearts, 1816 (2), a couple of surface marks, extremely fine and better and sixpence, 1818, good very fine; George IV, shilling, 1826, metal flaw on obverse, otherwise extremely fine; Victoria, Jubilee, 1887, double-florin (with Arabic 1), halfcrown, florin, shilling and “withdrawn” sixpence, generally extremely fine; with further late Victorian silver (4) and crowns (2), 1951 and 1960, fine and better (16)
Edward VII, halfcrown, 1904, fair and George V, halfcrowns (5), 1925 (1) and 1930 (4); florins (5, all 1930); shilling, 1930, generally fine, all scarce; George VI, crown, 1937, nearly extremely fine; florin, 1951, about uncirculated; Elizabeth II, crown, 1960; halfcrowns (4) comprising 1953 proof (impaired), 1954, 1958 and 1959; florins (4), 1957, 1958 (2), 1959; shillings (3), 1957 Scottish (2), 1959 (Scottish), extremely fine or better; and other British coins in silver (10) and base metal (355), mixed grades (about 390)
*School of Paris, Heraclius, Byzantine Emperor (610-641), The Return of the True Cross to Jerusalem, silver repoussé impression after the famous gold medal once in the possession of Jean, Duc de Berry (1340-1416), Heraclius in a covered triumphal car drawn by three horses, holding the True Cross; at the far side of the horses is a diminutive figure holding a whip and turning back towards the emperor; four lamps hang from a rail above them; Latin and Greek inscriptions above and below and in five lines across field, 102mm and 97mm excluding the outer rim (Jones, BMC, 5-7, especially 6 (e) for the silver double-sided repoussé piece in Paris illustrated by Babelon, La Médaille et Les Médailleurs, 1927, pl. III; Arm. II, 8, 6; Kress 525 = Pollard II, 598; Scher in Currency of Fame, pp. 32-37; Syson & Gordon, Pisanello, 20, 3.29), an extremely fine image, small French import mark of “cygne” near top edge and small section of outer order missing at 12 o’clock, extremely rare as a silver repoussé version, thought to be the earliest type of copy made after the no-longer-existing original in the Duc de Berry’s collection [Clifford lot 422, see also inside front cover illustration including frame]. The following note borrows in part from the footnote written in the 1996 Clifford sale catalogue. Of the two large gold medals of Constantine and Heraclius recorded in the inventory of the collections of Jean Duc de Berry, the Constantine medal was purchased from a Florentine merchant Antonio Mancini on 2 November 1402 and it has generally been assumed that the Heraclius medal came from the same source. It is from these two pieces or indeed copies of them that were commissioned by the Duke himself that all later versions seem to be derived. The earliest known versions consist of silver repoussé plates joined at their rims (for which see Jones, BMC, 1 and 6 – and the present piece). The solid casts mainly in bronze are thought to be later. The original of the Heraclius medal was in gold and was evidently in the French Royal cabinet, stolen and melted down in 1831 (see Jones, BMC, I, p. 26, note 15). The original medals probably date from 1400-1402 when Manuel II Palaeologus visited Paris since the legends on both medals show a knowledge of the Byzantine chancery formulae in use at the time. Also the features of the emperors on both medals do not conform to the traditional iconography of either Constantine or Heraclius, but rather show a marked similarity to Manuel II himself (for portraits of Manuel II see Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, MS Suppl. Gr. 309; Herrin, J, Byzantium,The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire, London, 2008, fig. 40). The medals were almost certainly produced in Paris, possibly with the Duke in mind as a purchaser. It may not be a coincidence that in March 1402 the Duke purchased two other “antique” medals of Augustus and Tiberius, from another Florentine merchant established in Paris, Michele de’ Pazzi. It has been suggested that they may be the work of the Parisian artist Michelet Saulmon, who is mentioned as the maker of a gold jewel in the Duke’s final inventory of 1416. Pieces from the Duke’s collections were available to other artists, and the imagery of both medals clearly influenced the work of the Limbourg brothers. Both obverse images appear in the Trés Riches Heures of c. 1411-16 and the triumphal chariot of the present medal is represented as the chariot of the sun at the top of each of the illuminations showing the twelve months of the year. In the Belles Heures the illumination showing the triumphal return of Heraclius after recovering the True Cross from the Persians is in fact a faithful copy of the imagery on the present piece (see Tim B. Husband and Margaret Lawson, The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean, Duc de Berry, New York, 2009, folio 156r). And, as Syson and Gordon (op. cit) among others have noted, there can be little doubt that Pisanello himself knew of and was influenced by these medals of Constantine and Heraclius. For the most recent comment on the iconography of the Return of the New Cross see Dr. Robin O’Bryan’s article, “Pisanello, chivalric dwarfs and the princely condottiere medal” in The Medal 66, 2015, pp. 13-25. She identifies the diminutive figure leading the horses as a chivalric dwarf of a type found later on medals by Pisanello and others. However, her view that the scene is likely to represent the emperor’s triumphal entry into Constantinople rather than Jerusalem as recorded in the 12th century trouvère Gautier d’Arras’s Eracle seems untenable given that the Belles Heures itself identifies the scene as Heraclius bringing the True Cross to Jerusalem. Stephen Scher in Currency of Fame has written that Heraclius with the True Cross is about to enter Jerusalem according to the account of the 13th century Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend when an angel appears and rebukes him for riding in comfort where before him Christ had entered Jerusalem on a lowly ass. See also Scher’s entry no 323 in Byzantium – Faith and Power (1261-1557), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, exhibition catalogue, 2004 - “The story of these medals is extremely complex, however, and much that concerns their history, authorship and iconography remains obscure”. The present piece was bought by Timothy Clifford in Paris in the early 1970s. Aside from the complete silver repoussé example in Paris it appears to be the only other extant repoussé version (albeit one-sided), the others being solid casts. Of the companion Constantine medal, only two repoussé versions are recorded by Jones (BMC), one in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris and the other in the British Museum.
*Great Britain, William III, Namur Retaken, 1695, silver medal by Jan Boskam, laureate bust right, rev., William on horseback riding over enemy in front of the military action, 59.5mm (MI 132/384; Eimer 365 var.), with edge knocks and other marks, trace of mount, otherwise about very fine and rare [Clifford lot 503]
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