London penny of Edward I

This recent find was unearthed by Mark Jones. It’s an Edward I penny, of which detectorists dig up a high number of examples every year. However, this specimen is rather special.

On the obverse the legend reads +EDWARD R ANGL DNS HYB, so this side was struck by a die of class 10ab. The reverse reads CIVI TAS LON DON so this side is a London die but instead of being class 10ab the die has characteristics that mark it out as being class 9b.

The muling of class 10ab and 9b dies is not particularly unusual but the obverse die used on this penny has an annulet on the king’s breast and this turns it into an extreme rarity. In the Standard Catalogue this variety is listed as number 1409A.

Valuation

Mark has developed a great interest in numismatics and must be thrilled to bits with this find. He said he is not looking towards selling the coin but would be interested to gain some idea of its possibly value.

When sold at auction in 2016, Part 2 of Lord Stewartby’s collection contained a very large number of Edward I pennies. Lot 796 was made up of eight class 10ab/9b mules and class 10ab London pennies, all in Fine or better condition and he hammer price was £100 (£12.50 each). The next lot was made up of only six coins in similar condition to the last lot but the hammer price was £290. The reason why lot 797 sold for such a high price was due to the fact that one of the coins (in Fine/VF condition) had an annulet on the king’s breast. Therefore, the greater part of the value of lot 797 was in the last coin.

Mark’s find would grade VF and would be of great interest to specialist collectors. If I was cataloguing it for sale at auction then I would set the pre-sale estimate at £400 to £500. If a couple of prospective buyers entered into a bidding battle then the final hammer price might break through the upper limit.

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