Henry III penny

This is coin number two from the group that came in from Jamie New. When it turned up Jamie wasn’t sure if it was a penny of King John or Henry III.

I can say it is definitely a coin of Henry III. The moneyer is Nichole and the mint is London. At the start of the legend on the reverse is a cross pommee rather than the usual cross pattee. This important characteristic means it is a penny of class VIII. Unfortunately, the shape of the X in REX on the obverse isn’t clear, so I can’t say if it is class VIIIa, b or c. In the Standard Catalogue the three types are listed as number 1357a-c.

Interestingly, Henry III class VIII pennies used to be quite rare but over recent years I have seen a number of specimens as detecting finds. This was a case of a class being rare out of the ground but not particularly rare in the ground. They are still very scarce and turn up less frequently that the fairly common class VII pennies.

Valuation

On Jamie’s find both sides have been struck off centre. However, it is better than other examples I have seen and would grade about VF for the issue. In its present condition a collector should be willing to pay £80 – £100 for it.

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