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Lot 632

A Lot of Numerous Silver-Plated Items, trays, creamers, etc.

Lot 766

A Good Quantity of Silver-Plate, four EPNS teapots, two dish rings with handles, coffeepot, toast rack etc.

Lot 565

A Silver Antique Nurses Buckle.

Lot 1065

A Silver Coloured Diamante Bar Necklace Along With A Pair Of Silver Coloured Drop Earrings; A Large Gold Coloured Cross On A Gold Coloured Chain Along With A T-Bar Style Bracelet. A Pandora Style Bracelet With Charms Along With A Newbridge Silver Purse and costume jewellery. A Flower Style Bracelet Along With A Silver Coloured Necklace.

Lot 652

A Large Silver-Framed Table Mirror (glass a/f), elaborately embossed and hallmarked for 1907.

Lot 551A

Three Silver Pendants & Chains: one set with citrine, another filigree stone set example and a large stone set example (3).

Lot 1020

A Cased Set of Six Silver Bean and Coffee Spoons.

Lot 585

A Large Cabochon Amethyst and Silver Ring, along with a quantity of silver charms.

Lot 1018

A Really Good Cased Set of Silver Tea Spoon.

Lot 537A

Three Silver Stone Set Rings.

Lot 1021

An Unusual Set of Silver Spoons with Tongs.

Lot 553

A Pair of Silver Enamel Art Nouveau Earrings.

Lot 552

A Silver Multi-Cluster Bracelet.

Lot 449

A Mahogany Cased Set of Twelve 'Royal Horticultural Society Flower Spoons', inset with gold on a silver flower cameo by John Pinches. With certificates.

Lot 400

Eight Pieces of Silver-Plate & Four Plates/Saucers.

Lot 526

A Silver Gilt Hunting Brooch.

Lot 1030

A Very Good Quality Silver Plated Urn in the Art Deco Style; on paw feet.

Lot 314

Silver-Plate Candlestick, Rose Bowl, etc.

Lot 571

A Silver Solitaire Ring, 1 cubic carat.

Lot 1003

A Quantity of Silver Flatware; a set of three Exeter silver fiddle pattern teaspoons; a Victorian dessert spoon; a modern dessert spoon; a dessert fork; a tea spoon; a late Victorian pickle fork; and a silver napkin ring.

Lot 1026

A Large Quantity of Cased and other Silver Plated Flatware.

Lot 1013

A Victorian Silver Teapot of Half Reeded Form. London, William Hutton & Sons 1898, 19.42 oz.

Lot 665

Italian Silver-Plated Flatware, a large collection to include servers, 18 each of forks knives, spoons etc.

Lot 1080

An Edwardian Four Piece Silver-Plated Tea Service with Hot Water Pot, in good condition.(4).

Lot 782

A Set of Four Georgian Design Silver-Plated Table Cruets with Liners & Spoons.

Lot 348

A Bali kris Indonesia with a straight blade with silver and black finish with a carved wood handle representing a lotus bud with black and gilt highlights in a carved ebony sheath 68.5cm long.

Lot 289

A Fante seated mother with suckling twins Ghana wood covered with silver coloured metal on a separate stool 44.5cm high. (2)

Lot 88

BRITISH COINS, George II, half guinea, 1745, LIMA, intermediate laur. head l., rev. crowned shield of arms (S.3684; Schneider 602), a beautiful specimen, lustrous and evenly struck with a bold portrait and royal shield, only tiny abrasions in the soft nearly pure gold, in plastic holder, graded by PCGS as Mint State 61, exceedingly rare in this grade A Lima guinea in extremely fine has just been sold for £31,200. British coins marked with the bold capital letters LIMA are storied survivors of a grand moment in history. Reminiscent of the Vigo coins from Queen Anne’s reign, these celebrated a much grander victory and a far larger treasure trove, taken on the high seas from the Spanish. The Vigo and Lima silver coins are of about equal scarcity, and many collectors own examples. The gold pieces are another story. Lustrous and choice-looking examples remain elusive and are collecting prizes. The middle of the eighteenth century was the great era of sailing ships, and the end of privateering by buccaneers, whose piracy at sea reached its zenith a century earlier in the West Indies. By tradition, crews shared in captured prizes, adding incentive for crews to be included on any buccaneering mission. The spirit of those adventurers still resonated in the British Navy when Commodore George Anson set sail with a squadron of warships on 18 September 1740, hoping to locate and to attack Spanish galleons laden with silver and gold mined in South America. It was a voyage requiring much skill and great courage; and the commander of the squadron was ready for the challenge. Born in 1697, Anson was by 1740 an experienced navigator and captain, commissioned as a lieutenant in 1716 and having taken part in Admiral Byng’s victory in August 1718 at Cape Passaro. He was promoted to commander in 1722, charged with capturing smugglers in the North Sea. By 1724, he had been promoted to post-captain in command of a frigate sailing off the coast of South Carolina to protect British ships from Spanish pirates, and from the end of 1737 until late 1739 his ships did similar duty off the west coast of Africa and in the West Indies. As commodore, Anson set off from England in the autumn of 1740 with a squadron of eight ships manned by marines, charged with attacking the Spanish navy in the Pacific. Little did Anson realize that this was destined to be a voyage around the world that would become famed for its success. Anson’s ships reached treacherous Cape Horn at the height of a terrible storm and most of the squadron was unsuccessful at clearing the cape into calmer seas. Two ships gave up and turned back for England. Others were wrecked. Only Anson’s flag ship and two warships got through to the Pacific, with a loss of hundreds of crew. On the three ships remained just 335 sailors and marines, of the 961 original crews. But the long voyage was just beginning! Months later, Anson’s force attacked and sacked the town of Paita in Peru, although the reward was small. Anson pressed onward, with the original goal firmly in mind despite all his setbacks. He aimed to attack the Spanish Manila-Acapulco fleet and capture its treasure. His crew was shrinking as disease took its toll on his men, and deprivation made two of the ships unseaworthy. All the crew was moved to his flagship, the Centurion, and they sailed west for the coast of China, arriving at Tinian by the end of summer 1742. They stayed ashore for months. Rested and restored, Anson’s crew and warship finally steered for the Philippines. On 20 June 1743, they spotted the treasure galleon Nuestra Señora de Covadonga off Cape Espiritu Santo, engaged the largely unprotected Spanish ship, won the brief sea battle, and took possession of its treasure. To their disappointment, most of the Spanish treasure fleet had already sailed, but the Covadonga was no small prize. They discovered in its hold hundreds of thousands of pieces of eight and gold cobs mined and crudely minted at Lima, Peru. They sailed for home around the Cape of Good Hope, but they and their prize were nearly captured by a French fleet in the English Channel before at last anchoring safely at Spithead on 15 June 1744. The tons of silver and gold were offloaded and carried by wagons along a parade route to the Mint in London. The total treasure was found to be nearly a million pounds in value, including proceeds from their sale of the Spanish galleon. Anson was cheered as a national hero and promoted to rear admiral. His share of the booty made him a wealthy man, but he continued to serve the Royal Navy, eventually being promoted to Admiral of the Fleet in 1761. He remained at sea in command of warships in 1746 and 1747, after which he oversaw naval reforms and advances in ship designs in the Admiralty Office. Numerous ships of the Royal Navy have been named after him but none has endured as a remembrance of his greatest victory for as long as the silver and gold coins marked LIMA in his honour by royal warrant. Many collectors worldwide own a silver coin made from this Spanish treasure but few are lucky enough to secure even one example of the Lima gold with old tickets

Lot 538

FOREIGN COINS, Iran, Nasir al-Din Shah, silver pattern 500 dinars, 1293h (1876), milled edge, radiant sun behind lion brandishing sword within wreath, rev. value within wreath (KM.Pn14 Silver), in plastic holder (with incorrect KM reference number), graded by NGC as Mint State 63, rare

Lot 4

ANCIENT COINS, GREEK COINS, Peloponnesos, Phliasia, Phlious (c. late 6th - early 5th century BC), silver obol, human leg with prominent knee-cap bent to r., rev. incuse square divided into six irregular compartments, wt. 1.00gm. (S.-; BCD.78 (p.40, LHS Sale 96, 8 May 2006), obverse corroded, fair/very fine, extremely rare; Sicyonia, Sicyon (c.330-280 BC), silver hemidrachm, chimaera l., rev. dove flying l., wt. 2.74gms. (cf. S.2774; BMC.111), toned, nearly extremely fine (2) *both ex Maurice and BCD Collections

Lot 411

† FOREIGN COINS, Australia, ‘holey dollar’, 1813, struck on a Lima portrait 8 reales of Carlos IV, 1807JP, counterstamped FIVE SHILLINGS, floral base around inner beaded circle about the central hole, legend not inverted but aligned with that of the Spanish coin, rev. remnant of the classic pillars image counterstamped NEW SOUTH WALES 1813 inverted around the inner beaded circle (KM.2.13), some light surface marks on host coin, otherwise about very fine, the countermark very fine, rarely offered for sale in this country and a good example of Australia’s first coin Australia’s first coin is nothing less than an emblem of exploration and discovery. For forty thousand years, only indigenous people inhabited this huge island in the South Pacific, and it was Captain James Cook who first stepped ashore in 1770, claiming the vast uncharted territory for Great Britain. It was an unknown land. Explorers would come over the following decades, slowly forging inland, but in the main Australia was a prison camp focused on a tiny bit of land; England’s courts sent the first cargo of condemned prisoners on a fleet that arrived in 1778 under the command of Arthur Phillip. Eight years before, in Cook’s party, Joseph Banks was aboard Cook’s ship, HMS Endeavour. Banks was a naturalist, so impressed by what he discovered when first arriving at port – plants, insects and animals unknown in Europe – that he dubbed the place Botany Bay. The prisoners being transported from England were less impressed, facing a life of indenture and hardship, and they were deprived of the wonders of Botany Bay when Captain Phillip decided on Port Jackson as the site of their new home. Phillip called the penal colony Sydney Cove in honor of secretary of state Lord Sydney. The colony immediately became a constitutional autocracy under control of a governor selected by a company formed in England in 1789, in effect a military regiment that oversaw the prisoners and other settlers after the royal marines that were part of Phillip’s fleet departed. The ruling company was called The New South Wales Corps. New South Wales was a harsh land. Agriculture was not easily established. Food was in short supply for the original 778 convicts and their keepers. Most of the convicts were professional thieves lacking skills needed to survive in the new land. But most survived and beginning in 1791 ships regularly arrived with additional prisoners, settlers and supplies from England. Slowly, convicts were emancipated and granted plots of land, and trade with the home country began. A whaling industry started, manned in part by retired soldiers and marines. A settler named John MacArthur formed a wool industry which became the colony’s first important source of exports. Several new towns near the original settlement were established by 1815, all engaged in raising sheep. The rum trade became corrupt, ending in a military rule of the colony from 1808 until 1810. The next decade experienced increased immigration of free settlers. By 1825, New South Wales had its own legislative council. A vast new land would soon open up to further exploration and development, and by 1840 the transportation of convicts was abolished. Australians were then all free people. Hard, real money had been a problem since the founding of the colony. During the nineteenth century, scores of independent merchants issued ‘small change’ money, tokens bearing curious images of the land, in large numbers, but the only official money for decades consisted of Spanish silver 8 reales (dollars) out of which the centres were cut and a local value was inscribed by way of counterstamps. These are what we today call the ‘holey dollars’. Unknown quantities of 8 reales struck at various Spanish mints were the host coins, all dated from the middle of the eighteenth century into the early nineteenth century. These were chosen for their proven inherent value, based on their silver content. They became the standard coin for New South Wales. By the condition of most known examples, they were used long and hard, in local trade and for export. When gold was discovered near Bathurst in 1851, much of the population of New South Wales and other districts of the expanding country rushed to the gold fields, and within a year prospecting settlers thronged to the land from abroad. New discoveries of gold opened up more gold fields during the 1850s, and the former penal colony became transformed. Colonies became territories. Intense rivalries grew between territories. Commerce rapidly developed, and gold was its basis. The so-called ‘easy gold’ petered out within a decade of discovery, but mining had become a major industry across the land. The company BHP Billiton, which began in New South Wales as a silver miner in the 1880s, became a major producer of copper and other metals. Sydney became a centre for business. By the end of the nineteenth century, little more than a century after it was discovered by Cook, New South Wales had become one of the commercial focuses of the modern world. Its first money, the holey dollars made from highly valued Spanish silver, had been long forgotten and most had perished in melting pots as unwanted – mere relics of a penal colony that formed the basis for the development of a modern nation.

Lot 399

COMMEMORATIVE MEDALS, FOREIGN MEDALS, Germany, silver prize medal, c.1850, by Loos, SELIG SIND, WELCHE DER..., figure at altar with key, rev. DU BIST UBER WENIG…, legend within wreath, 42mm., extremely fine; France, death of Napoleon II at Vienna, by Caqué, 51mm.; British copper and base metal medals (6), including Crystal Palace, Exhibitor’s medal (UK Class 26, No 222); International Health Exhibition, 1884, mostly very fine (8)

Lot 388

COMMEMORATIVE MEDALS, BRITISH MEDALS, Charles II and Catherine of Braganza, Marriage, silver medal, 1662, 'The Golden Medal', by J. Roettier, laur., armoured bust of king r., rev. bust of queen r., with hair tied back, 43mm. (Eimer 224; MI.489/111; vL.II/471), scuffed and bruised, good fine

Lot 389

COMMEMORATIVE MEDALS, BRITISH MEDALS, George I, the official silver medal for the coronation, 1714, by John Croker, laur., cuir. and dr. bust l., rev. the king enthroned, crowned by Britannia, 34mm. (MI.424/9; Eimer 470), attractively toned, extremely fine or better

Lot 596

FOREIGN COINS, Russia, Paul I, silver 5 kopecks, 1798CM, dot after date, crowned monogram, rev. value above date within sprigs (KM.96.1a; Bit.88), in plastic holder, graded by PCGS as Mint State 63, extremely rare in this condition

Lot 537

FOREIGN COINS, Iran, Nasir al-Din Shah, silver 1000 dinars, 1295h (1878), Tehran mint, milled edge, radiant sun behind lion brandishing sword within wreath, rev. value within wreath (KM.899), in plastic holder, graded by NGC as Specimen 65, rare

Lot 205

IRISH COINS, Ireland, Philip and Mary, groat, 1558, mm. rose, busts face to face, date divided by crown above, rev. crowned harp divides crowned P and M (S.6501D), struck in good silver, surfaces a little pitted but with strong portraits, a little clipped but very fine or better for issue

Lot 684

BANKNOTES, FOREIGN NOTES, USA, Silver Certificate, one dollar, 1896, no. 11999453, Educational Series (Fr.224; Pick 335), good fine

Lot 183

Elizabeth II, silver proof set (2): 1996, ‘The Silver Anniversary Collection’, pound to penny (S.PSS05); 2000, ‘The Millennium Collection, five pounds to Maundy penny (S.PSS08), in fitted cases of issue, FDC (2 sets)

Lot 398

† COMMEMORATIVE MEDALS, FOREIGN MEDALS, Germany, Bavaria, Maximilian Joseph, 25th Anniversary of Reign, undated (1824), silver medal, by Losch, bare head r., rev. PATRI PATRIAE, triumphal arch, 48mm. (W.2519), in large plastic holder, graded by NGC as Mint State 61

Lot 2

ANCIENT COINS, GREEK COINS, Euboia, Histiaia (mid 4th century BC), silver tetrobol, head r., rev. nymph seated r. on galley, wt. 2.29gms. (S.2495), porous, but very fine, rare; Thessaly, Ekkarra (c.325-320 BC), Æ chalkous, laur. head of Zeus l., Artemis stg. l., 13mm. (S.2079), surfaces a little rough, otherwise nearly extremely fine, rare in this condition (2) * both ex BCD Collection, with tickets

Lot 1

ANCIENT COINS, GREEK COINS, Boiotia, Thebes (368-364 BC), silver stater, Boeotian shield, rev. amphora divides AP KA, wt. 11.34gms. (cf. S.2398; Hepworth 14); Federal Coinage (c.220 BC), Æ 17, head of Demeter three-quarters r., rev. Poseidon stg. l. (S.2413), the first with slightly porous reverse, both about very fine (2) *the first ex Maurice Collection, the second ex BCD Collection, with ticket

Lot 405

COMMEMORATIVE MEDALS, FOREIGN MEDALS, Russia, Catherine II, the Great, Triumphal Voyage of the Empress to Crimea, celebrating the 25th Anniversary of her reign, 1787, silver medal, by Timothei Ivanov, bust of the Empress r., wearing classical armour, mantle over her shoulders, rev. a map of Russia, in considerable detail, her route depicted with a dotted line, legends in Cyrillic, 65mm. (Diakov 205.1; Smirnov 304 var.), about extremely fine, very rare

Lot 630

FOREIGN COINS, Vatican City, Pius IX, 5 baiocchi, 1849R, extremely fine; other copper coinage (13), 17th – 19th centuries; Spain, copper coinage (15), 18th – 19th centuries; British North Borneo, cent, 1890H, extremely fine; others (2), except as stated, fine to very fine; sundry British and other coins, base metals but including silver (1), many fine, a few better (lot)

Lot 512

FOREIGN COINS, Germny/East Africa, Trade Coinage for the Orient, silver 2½ tola, undated (late 19thC), milled edge, Liberty head r., rev. 2½ TOLA FEINGEH 0.995 in centre circle, additional weights and measures surrounding in outer legend, wt. 29.12 gms., about extremely fine, extremely rare

Lot 406

† COMMEMORATIVE MEDALS, FOREIGN MEDALS, Russia, Alexander I, Death, 1825, silver medal, by A. Klepikow, laur. head r., within a circle formed by a serpent swallowing its tail, legend around, rev. all-seeing eye, radiant, legend around, date 1812, 67.5mm. (Diakov 429.2 [R2]; Julius 3818), toned, in large plastic holder, graded by NGC as Mint State 63, extremely rare in silver

Lot 3

ANCIENT COINS, GREEK COINS, Attica, Athens (449-413 BC), silver tetradrachm, head of Athena r., in wreathed crested helmet, rev. ???, owl r., olive-spray and crescent in upper-left field, all within an incuse square, wt. 17.10gms. (Sear.2521), well modelled and in high relief, very fine

Lot 404

COMMEMORATIVE MEDALS, FOREIGN MEDALS, Peru, Charles III, silver Proclamation medal, 1760, for Lima, laureate and armoured bust r., rev. crowned double-headed eagle with coat of arms between pillars, 37.5mm. (Medina 79; Fonrobert 8920), pierced, toned very fine

Lot 605

FOREIGN COINS, South Africa, ZAR, Burgers pond (1874), copper test splash for the reverse hub die (unlisted), made at the Heaton Mint, a complete, deep impression of the reverse die, surrounded by the massive copper splash, virtually as struck, unknown in any other collection - a museum piece and probably unique *ex Künker, Auction 206, March 13-15, 2012, ex BIM Collection. Colonial South Africa provides numismatists with a fascinating glimpse at how a system of money, and the need for a native coinage, develop. The colony evolved as a disconnected group of immigrant settlements which initially used coins of their home countries as well as local tokens for money. Some of the early tokens were made of silver but in the main they were exchanged in good faith only. When gold was discovered in the Transvaal in 1869, a new era began for the area's inhabitants. The first gold coin was minted in 1874 in extremely limited numbers but was never put to any commercial use. Thomas François Burgers, second president of the republic, had been urged repeatedly to create a gold coinage that could be traded outside the country and trusted, based on its intrinsic value. No design for it had ever been advanced, however, so Burgers decided to approach the Birmingham, England, firm of Ralph Heaton & Sons to create a coin that would change the situation. Unfortunately he made the decision on his own, lacking any approval from his fellow legislators, and it was to prove to be such a fatal error that the initial gold coinage for South Africa was delayed yet again. The Heaton Mint engaged the services of Leonard C. Wyon, the Royal Mint's engraver, to prepare dies showing a portrait of Burgers, possibly because Burgers himself supplied the gold specie for the coinage. On the coin’s reverse appeared an artistically balanced, elaborate design showing the coat of arms of the fledgling republic. During the process of designing and advancing the stages of die development, Heaton tested the dies, and it is their test of the reverse ‘coat of arms’ die which we see in this lot. The gold specie used to make sample coins had been mined in the Transvaal, meeting Burgers' intention of making use of native gold ore. Mint records (see National Archives reference below) indicate that 837 pieces were made using up the amount of gold ore supplied to the mint by Burgers. When the Heaton Mint’s samples reached South Africa, Burgers proudly displayed his gleaming new gold coins to members of the Volksraad, but the legislators objected vehemently to Burgers' use of his own image and they rejected the coin design which was to become the forerunner of the famed golden Pond. The new republic would therefore need to wait almost two more decades until its first golden Ponds appeared for commerce in 1892. Although only 837 gold coins were struck by Heaton, a surprisingly high number of 16 working dies were needed, evidently because of the high rate of die breakage. These dies and punches (matrices) remain in the collections of the National Cultural and Open Air Museum in Pretoria, the Transvaal Museum, and the South African Mint Museum. It is rumored that a working die is in private possession. Off-metal completed patterns exist in limited numbers, as listed by Hern, but no other physical samples of the coinage’s preparation exists other than this trial splash for the reverse die. Research reveals that L.C. Wyon prepared two matrices, or die punches, that were used by the Heaton Mint to create working dies. The present splash, or hub trial, was made by pressing the die into molten copper alloy to test its design. Once tested, die trials and hub trials are normally destroyed, but this one survived. Primary sources: South Africa's First Gold Coin: Research on the Burgers Dies and Burgerspond 1874, by Esterhuysen, Matthys van As (1976). Correspondence concerning the execution of a gold coinage for the Republic of South Africa by Messrs. Heaton and Sons of Birmingham, June 1874. The National Archives, London

Lot 58

BRITISH COINS, Charles II, pattern farthing in silver, 1665, cuir. laur. bust l., date below, rev. Britannia seated, holding spear and olive branch, grained edge (P.407), toned, extremely fine or better, scarce

Lot 69

BRITISH COINS, William III, five guineas, 1701, D. TERTIO, ‘fine work’, second laur. bust r., rev. crowned cruciform shields, sceptres in angles (S.3456; Schneider 480, plain sceptres), in plastic holder, graded by PCGS as Mint State 62, an evenly bold strike on both sides, just a touch of wear on the king’s hair, only tiny abrasions in the open golden fields, choice mint state, very rare On the death of Queen Mary at the very end of December 1694, King William ruled alone for the first time. Silver coinage and small gold in his name commenced in 1695, but his first large gold pieces were minted in 1699. While much of the energy of the Royal Mint’s workers and administrators was devoted to the Great Recoinage of the silver, and the temporary establishment and furnishing of branch mints around the kingdom during this reign, no little attention was given to the standard gold which was the backbone of the nation’s financial strength. The need was indeed great to recall worn, clipped, and difficult-to-value older silver. Tons of it came into these smelting and minting facilities beginning late in 1696 and concluding in 1698 but the year 1697 saw the heaviest exchange. By 1699, almost all old silver in circulation had been exchanged, and melted, and the country saw a deluge of bright, freshly minted sixpence, shilling and halfcrown coins. At just the same time, Isaac Newton’s work at the Mint changed from that of Warden to Master-worker, or Mint-master. As a man of science, Newton brought both more control and a more scientific approach to the operations of the Mint. Beginning in 1699, Newton watched and weighed the Mint’s suppliers of gold especially and soon learned that a few grains of gold was a standard variance for the Mint that was being used to certain merchants’ advantage when they returned slightly heavy coins to the Mint for a profit. Newton began testing all newly minted gold to assure that it would be of precise weight and fineness, and also required exact measures of all worn and foreign gold brought to the Mint in exchange for new money. By treating foreign money as mere bullion rather than accepting it at a set exchange value, he caused an influx of worn gold to come into the Mint during 1701-02, most of which was coined into guinea denominations. In this way he caused British gold coins to be consistently pure and of precise value. The Royal Mint had been modernized. The first 5 guineas issued for William III varied greatly on the reverse from the coins issued by him with Mary, reverting to the cruciform style seen on the gold of Charles II. The king's portrait was shallowly engraved. But Newton had not finished making changes at the Mint: next he attempted to complete the transition begun during the Renaissance, of departing from the shallow style of portraiture of the monarch to one that suggested lifelike qualities. In 1701 he caused a portrait to be engraved that would not be equalled until the 1760s’ patterns of George III. As Mint-master, Newton’s finest artistic achievement is, without argument, the deeply engraved 5 guineas of 1701, now known as the ‘fine work’ issue, and it has become one of the classics of British numismatics. Its conception has never been documented in detail but its appearance arose from another propitious change at the Royal Mint. For about a third of a century, the job of engraving coin dies had been dominated by the Roettiers family of Brussels. The elder of the family, John, had found favour with Charles II when Thomas Simon, as the former engraver of Cromwell’s coins and seals, saw his tenure decline. John and his brothers, Joseph and Philip, in the words of Challis, exercised the ‘controlling influence over English engraving’ during the last years of the seventeenth century (New History of the Royal Mint, page 363) along with John’s sons James and Norbert, who under his guidance completed much of the die-work during the reigns of James II and of William & Mary and then of William alone. Slowly, the Roettiers faded from the scene: John the master engraver suffered injury, Joseph moved to the Paris Mint, Philip returned to Brussels to work, Norbert left for France in 1695, and James came under suspicion of counterfeiting in 1697 and was dismissed. No one capable was left, save for a young assistant named James Bull. Then suddenly a German jeweller from Dresden named John Croker was brought to the Mint. He soon tired of re-engraving dies made by the Roettiers during 1698-99, and he produced the now-famous ‘flaming hair’ shillings. Newton and others took note and promoted him. His mark on English coinage and medals became indelible, and among his medals may be found exquisite images in high relief, but his greatest achievement was certainly the ‘fine work’ engraving of the king’s portrait used in only one year, 1701, on the gold 2 guineas and 5 guineas. These are the ultimate numismatic images of the reign, magnificent money created three centuries ago and rarely equalled as works of art in all the years that have followed.

Lot 60

BRITISH COINS, Charles II, pattern farthing in silver, 1665, laur. bust l., rev. Britannia std. l., with shield and spear (P.431), about very fine, rare

Lot 73

BRITISH COINS, Anne, five guineas, 1703, SECVNDO, VIGO below bust, dr. bust l., rev. crowned cruciform shields with rose at centre, sceptres in angles (S.3561; Schneider 523 but here the VIGO is higher and close to the queen’s shoulder), in plastic holder, graded by PCGS as About Uncirculated 55, with delightful reddish gold toning and a bold, even strike, very rare The commercial focus of the Royal Mint at the turn of the eighteenth century was upon silver coins, those being most in demand both at home and for trade abroad. Various monetary indentures mainly concerned silver, but any shortage normally encountered had just been addressed during the previous decade by way of the temporary establishment of mints scattered about the kingdom for the purpose of melting old silver and striking fresh coins of good and consistent weight and fineness. Those ‘branch’ mints were now closed, and silver was being produced in modest quantity when Anne ascended the throne. In truth, at the time there was a dearth of silver mined within the realm. The output of fresh silver coins had again become ‘dependent on special circumstances such as the fortuitous arrival of foreign booty’ (Challis, A New History of the Royal Mint, page 433) ‘The most spectacular of these windfalls’, Challis continues, occurred almost by happenstance just as Anne became queen. The year 1702 marked the beginning of the War of Spanish Succession, which was a contest for dominance between two sets of allies, England and the Dutch Republic against France and Bourbon Spain. Old allies and old enemies they surely were. A fleet of Anglo-Dutch warships attempted to seize Cadiz but the attempt failed in mid-September. The commander of the fleet, Admiral Sir George Rooke, had begun his homeward journey and most certainly was dejected at the idea of returning to home port without success when he was informed by spies that a Spanish treasure fleet had recently anchored at Vigo Bay on the northwest shore of Spain What was at hand, he had learned, was an armada of Spanish ships carrying specie mined in Spanish Mexico. The fleet had sailed from Veracruz protected by a French squadron of fifteen warships. Three galleons were loaded with silver and gold. Frigates and attending ships added up to a fleet of 56 vessels, many carrying merchandise intended for sale in Spain, and all were moored in Vigo Bay. A furious naval battle was fought on 23 October and the victory was England’s despite a boom consisting of heavy chain and timber that stretched across the entrance to the bay, and a battery of cannons, meant to block and defeat any attack. The Dutch and English men o’ war crashed through the boom. The Spanish set a fireship alongside the Dutch admiral’s flagship, intending to burn it, but the Spanish ship was loaded with snuff from the Indies and it blew up! The Spanish guns were quickly silenced, the boom was gone, and the Anglo-Dutch warships sailed right into the heart of the harbour, destroying most of the enemy’s ships and capturing the others. In a day and a half, the Battle of Vigo Bay had been won, and the booty was up for grabs. At first, jubilation reigned, but then the English discovered that most of the treasure from the New World mines had been unloaded before they arrived at Vigo. Winning the battle was of great moment in the war. What remained of the specie was taken and delivered to the Royal Mint. It did not consist of Mexican silver but rather it amounted to 4,500 pounds of silver that had been ornaments and ‘plate’ belonging to the Spanish and French officers, as well as 7 pounds 8 ounces of gold (Challis, page 433). The Spanish king, Philip V, issued a decree claiming ownership of the precious metals. In response, Queen Anne caused to be issued a royal warrant, dated 10 February 1703, instructing Mint-master Isaac Newton to mark all coins made from captured specie to ‘Continue to Posterity the Remembrance of that Glorious Action’ at Vigo Bay. Today’s collectors often encounter silver sixpence, shillings, halfcrowns and crowns made from this treasure, but the gold produced few coins and today all are extremely rare. Least minted were the 5 guineas of 1703. Only a handful are known. Of them, the rarest variety (perhaps as few as two others known) is that showing the VIGO placed higher toward the queen’s shoulder, as seen on this wonderfully historic coin

Lot 181

G BRITISH COINS, Elizabeth II, two-coin proof set, 1996, comprising sovereign and silver pound; proof sovereign, 1996; proof half sovereign, 1996, all issued by the Royal Mint, in fitted cases of issue, FDC (4 coins)

Lot 265

Silver Nutmeg grater - Thomas Phipps & Edward Robinson, London 1797

Lot 256

Silver & Mother of Pearl handle paper knife in scabbard

Lot 212

Silver brooch with enamel bird decor, buttons, thimble etc.

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