Copy of London noble of Richard II

The detectorist who found this coin asked to remain anonymous. He said it was unearthed from his last dig of the day when he was on his way back to his car. Most detectorists have heard lots of “. . . on the way back to the car” stories and will know they are true, for they will have experienced the same thing.

The finder said that he initially didn’t examine the coin closely as most of it was covered in clay. However, when he arrived back home his heart must have skipped a beat when he removed the clay to reveal what on first sight appeared to be a gold noble – broken but still a great find. His elation would be swiftly followed by gloom, when he realised his ‘gold noble’ was in fact a plated copy.

This find is in the form of a London noble of Richard II. It is twisted out-of-shape, a piece is missing and a base metal core shows through on a number of high points and especially on the broken edges. The finder’s main question was: “Is it as old as I think it is and would it be of any value?”

Full weight nobles of Richard II should tip the scales at 120 grains (7.79 grams). This find looks to have a full size flan but it has lost part of its fabric and the finder said it weighs only 5 grams. What remains looks to be around 75% of a full coin, so were it genuine it shouldn’t weigh any less than 5.8 grams. The present weight of only 5 grams seems to confirm that it is a base metal plated forgery of a Richard II gold noble.

Is this a contemporary or a modern forgery? I checked out a number of websites that offer copies of English hammered gold coins; some had copies of Richard II nobles on sale but none matched the coin pictured here. There is a possibility that it could be modern but I would say it is more likely to be contemporary.

Valuation

What might this be worth? Well, it has two significant minus points: it isn’t genuine and its state of preservation is terrible. To the latter two points could be added the fact that its date of manufacture is not altogether certain. If accepted as being a contemporary forgery a specialist in hammered gold coins might offer £100 to £150 for it. If proven to be a modern fake then the commercial value would be in low single figures.

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