Continental copy of a penny of John

Rob Warwick asked for a valuation on this hammered silver coin in order to pass on a figure to the owner of the land on which it was found.

Rob’s find is a voided short cross penny, which has characteristics that point towards it being an example of John class 5b. On the reverse the legend reads +ARNAVD ON LV so the moneyer is Arnaud and the mint London.

The coin is well struck and would grade good VF for the issue. On the obverse the head is sharp and rather attractive. However, this find is not what is seems to be at first sight.

Everything about the coin seems to be perfectly correct except for the mint and moneyer combination. Arnaud is not a particularly scarce moneyer but he was an official at Canterbury not London. Therefore, even though this penny looks like an official English issue it is likely to be a Continental imitation.

Why were copies of English coins made in various parts of Europe? At the time the copies were made English coins had a high reputation in Europe, for they were known to contain the correct amount of sterling silver. Therefore, they were accepted without question and the copies took advantage of this situation. Many of these things were made by dies cut by highly skilled craftsmen and the coins struck by them can be very difficult to distinguish from genuine English pennies.

Valuation

So would Rob’s find have any value? In actual fact, many specialist collectors of voided short cross coins are just as keen on Continental imitations as they are on the genuine articles. If I was cataloguing Rob’s coin for sale at auction my pre-sale estimate would be £200-300.

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