The Michael Cole Collection of Victorian Halfpennies and Pennies : Signature Sales
The Michael Cole Collection of Victorian Halfpennies and Pennies
The Pennies and Halfpennies in this collection have been
collected largely in the 1970s and early 1980s, with a brief
sojourn into the market in the latter part of the 1980s.
Many scarce or rare types grace this collection, a number
of which are seldom offered in any grade.
Penny 1860 60 over 59 Copper Peck 1521 A/UNC and with traces of lustre, a most attractive example of this rare date. Interestingly the 0 of the date is complete, this feature seldom seen on 1860 copper Pennies. Ex-Spink Auction 68 23/3/1989 Ex-Hopetoun House £390
Penny 1860 60 over 59 Copper as Peck 1521 but with inverted die axis, previously unseen by this cataloguer and possibly unique, NEF perhaps once cleaned now almost fully retoned, sold to the vendor by Colin Cooke for £380, on meeting Colin at Spink Auction 23/3/1989 after the vendor purchased the other 1860 Copper Penny in this sale
Penny 1868 Cupro-Nickel ProofFreeman 57 dies 6+G UNC and lustrous with a few small contact marks, Ex-Spink Auction 68 23/3/1989 Lot 696, £310, Ex-Hopetoun House
Penny 1849 Peck 1497 UNC and nicely toned with some indentations around Britannia probably caused in striking, Very Rare in this high grade, Ex-Spink Auction 68 23/3/1989 Lot 791, Ex-Hopetoun House £240
Penny 1882 without H but instead of the usual Obverse 11 for this rare type, this coin has obverse 12, where R and I of BRITT touch at the base, dies 12+N, Fine with a small edge bruise, unrecorded by Freeman or Gouby, Ex-Seaby C.1979 £60
Penny 1843 REG: Peck 1486 GVF with some contact marks on the portrait and old thin scratches on the reverse, Very Rare in all grades above Fine, Ex-Laurie Bamford £75
Penny 1860 Toothed Border/Beaded Border MuleFreeman 9 dies 2+B NVG/Fair, Extremely Rare and our extensive database archive shows that this is the first example of this type we have offered, Ex-Croydon Coin Auction £92
Penny 1860 Toothed Border Freeman 14 dies 3+E UNC with around 40% lustre and sharply struck, the obverse with a verdigris spot in the field and some thin scratches, nevertheless very rare in high grades, Ex-Laurie Bamford £165
Penny 1860 Pattern by J.Moore in Gilt Copper Obverse 3 Reverse D, Britannia facing left, no legend, Freeman 859, unlisted by Peck, Very Rare rated R19 by Freeman, UNC and lustrous with some contact marks, Ex-Spink Auction 68 March 23 1989 Lot 688, Ex-Hopetoun House
Halfpenny 1843 Peck 1527 UNC or near so and nicely toned with a couple of tiny rim nicks and minor cabinet friction, comparable in quality to the Andrew Wayne collection example, Ex-Croydon Coin Auction £46
Penny 1865 5 over 3 Freeman 51 dies 6+G interestingly the down stroke of the underlying 3 not visible, but is visible to the top left of the 5 and also under the outer curve of the 5, UNC the obverse with around 20% lustre, the reverse with around 50% lustre, very rare in this high grade, Ex-Astons £65
Penny 1860 Beaded Border Satin 1, Gouby BP1860A1 Obverse A1 with R of REG rotated slightly forwards and with the tip not touching and slightly below the line of the following E, Fair, Very Rare, Ex-Laurie Bamford £7, Ex-Michael Freeman, we note a Fine example realised £2691 in Auction A136 3/3/2012 (Lot 2168)
Halfpenny 1847 Peck 1531 UNC or near so and lustrous with minor cabinet friction and some light contact marks, Rare in this grade and superior to the examples in the Andrew Wayne and Roland Harris collections, Ex-Surrey Numismatic Society £6
Halfpenny 1860 Toothed Border Freeman 261 dies 2+B Lustrous UNC, an early strike with prooflike fields, we note this piece superior to the Andrew Wayne and Roland Harris examples, (there was no example in the Nicholson Collection), we note the Roland Harris example realised £320 hammer price in London Coins Auction A124 28/2/2009, Ex-Spink Auction 68 23 March 1989, Ex-Hopetoun House collection Lot no.707 hammer price £75
Halfpenny 1874 Freeman dies 11+J (unrecorded with this die pairing by Freeman) appears struck from slightly worn dies About EF/EF and certainly clear enough for the key areas to be identified, Ex-Croydon Coin Auction No.88 Lot 329 £82
Penny 1846 DEF Far Colon Peck 1490 a variant with the colon stops in differing positions, the colon after REG has both dots much more widely spaced top to bottom, the colon after FID has the lower dot below the line of the legend, and the colon after DEF leans around 45 degrees to the left, a most unusual piece, NEF with a few small spots
Halfpenny 1862 Die Letter C Freeman 288A dies 7+F VG the obverse with an uneven dark tone in places, nevertheless very rare and seldom offered, we note there was no example in the Norweb, or Andrew Wayne collections, Ex-M.Peake £30
Halfpenny 1876H Freeman 326 dies 13+M A/UNC with traces of lustre, Rare, rated R14 by Freeman, we note there was no example in the Roland Harris collection
Penny 1841 REG: Peck 1480 AU/GEF with traces of lustre and a small tone spot on the bust, extremely rare in this high grade, comparable to the Andrew Wayne example, Ex-Croydon Coin Auction £125
Five CentsPattern 1846 SMITH ON DECIMAL CURRENCY, by Marrian and Gausby 35.5mm diameter GVF/NEF with some contact marks, Ex-Spink Auction 11 Lot 663 (part lot)
Halfpenny 1860 Beaded Border Freeman 260A, no tie-knot, dies 1*+A, rated R16 by Freeman, UNC with a tone spot on the bust and some light deposit on the reverse, highly lustrous and very rare in this high grade, Ex-G.Monk £11.50
Penny, Model Coinage by Joseph Moore undated (1844) with PENNEY error in the obverse legend. Now listed in Krause 'Unusual World Coins' as X#10 with no prices given, our research has uncovered that 7 examples are known to exist, this example VF, superior to the example sold in our Auction A142 (Lot 2731) which realised £643 inclusive of buyers premium
Halfpennies (2) 1873 Freeman 310 dies 7+G UNC with around 40% lustre and a small spot by REG, Ex-M.Ellis £26. 1873 Freeman 311 dies 311 VF toned, Ex-M.Ellis £8
Halfpennies (2) 1868 Freeman 303 dies 7+G EF with a toning line on either side, Ex-Spink Auction 6/ October 1979 Lot 823 £10.50. 1871 Freeman 308 dies 7+G NVF with surface marks and some spots, Rare, Ex-Astons £28.80
Penny 1860 Pattern by J.Moore in silver Obverse 1 Reverse A, Britannia facing right Freeman 825, Peck 2099 VG Very Rare rated R19 by Freeman, Ex-Surrey Numismatic Society £18
Halfpenny 1851 Reverse B with dots on the shield, also the 8 appears to be struck over a lower 8, Peck 1535 EF with a small spot on the hair, purchased at Charing Cross Market £6
Halfpenny 1860 Toothed Border Freeman 266 dies 4+B UNC/AU with good but pale lustre, in our experience, somewhat scarcer than the R11 quoted by Freeman, Ex-M.Peake collection £20
Penny 1860 Freeman 15 dies 4+D with central cut to the ribbon fishtail and crimp to the outer ribbon Gouby reference 1860P his obverse G lustrous A/UNC and scarce in this high grade, UNC with good subdued lustre, purchased at Coinex 1980 £25
Halfpennies (2) 1860 Toothed Border Freeman 270 dies 4+E, EF toned with some scratches, Ex-M.Peake £10, 1860 Toothed Border Freeman 274 dies 5+E GEF with good underlying lustre, Ex-G.Monk £20
Halfpenny 1893 struck in cupro-nickel? and weighing 5.96 grammes, considerably heavier than the bronze issue at 5.6 grammes, NVF/GF with signs of cleaning, unusual
Penny 1858 8 over 6 surprisingly unlisted by Peck and Spink the over date very clear EF with an edge bruise and a nick on the truncation, Ex-Croydon Coin Auction £27
Books The Victorian Bronze Penny 1860-1901, the 1970 Edition by Michael Freeman along with the Penny 1880 the plate coin used to illustrate Obverse 10, 'The Bronze Coinage of Great Britain' by Michael Freeman includes 1980 values list a useful guide to the workings on the author with respect to future editions. English Proof and PatternCrown sized Pieces by Linecar and Stone, English Silver Coinage 1974 Edition by Cope and Rayner. English Milled Coinage 1662-1972 by Cope and Rayner, all in good condition
Halfpennies (2) 1893 Freeman 368 dies 17+S UNC with around 20% lustre, purchased from Charing Cross Market £6.50. 1894 Freeman 369 dies 17+S UNC with good subdued lustre, Ex-Laurie Bamford £12
Halfpenny 1861 Freeman 275 dies 5+G, rated R16 by Freeman, GEF/AU and lustrous, We note there was no example in the Nicholson collection, Ex-Spinks £12
Halfpenny 1876H Freeman 328 dies 14+K* EF with some pale lustre and a spot to the right of the date, Very Rare and rated R15 by Freeman, we note there was no example in the Nicholson, Norweb or Andrew Wayne collections, purchased at Charing Cross Market £16
Halfpenny 1883 Freeman 351 dies 19+S A/UNC with subdued lustre and a spot on either side, the obverse rim with a couple of rim cuds, Rare in high grade, Ex-Laurie Bamford £83
Halfpennies (2) 1875 Freeman 322A">Freeman 322A dies 13+J Fine with a small spot to the right of the date, Very rare rated R17 by Freeman and seldom offered, we note there was no example in either the Nicholson or Roland Harris collections, Ex-Croydon Coin Auction £52. 1875 Freeman 322 dies 12+L NVG with a dent on the Queen's hairline, Ex-Laurie Bamford £5
Halfpennies (3) 1886 Freeman 356 dies 17+S UNC with good subdued lustre, Ex-Croydon Coin Auction £5. 1891 Freeman 364 dies 17+S AU/UNC with traces of lustre and a few small spots, purchased at Charing Cross Market £4.50. 1892 Freeman 366 dies 17+S About EF once cleaned now almost fully retoned, Ex-G.Monk £2.70
Halfpenny 1851 No Dots on Shield Reverse A Peck 1534 VF/GVF with some small spots the rarity of this piece somewhat under-rated, we note that there was no example in the Nicholson collection, Ex-G.Monk £4.50
Halfpennies (2) 1889 Freeman 360 dies 17+S Lustrous UNC with small spots, purchased at Charing Cross Market £9. 1890 Freeman 362 dies 17+S UNC with practically full lustre and a couple of small spots, purchased at Charing Cross Market £25
Pennies (2) 1886 Freeman 123 dies 12+N Lustrous UNC with some discolouration on the portrait, purchased at Charing Cross Market £8. 1887 Freeman 125 dies 12+N AU/UNC and lustrous, purchased at Coinex 1982 £8.50
Penny 1853 Ornamental Trident with Italic 5 in date as Peck 1500 GEF nicely toned with some contact marks and a small spot in the reverse field, Ex-Croydon Coin Auction £16