Now sold:
"HENRY III (1216-1272), GOLD PENNY OF 20-PENCE, AUTHORISED 16 AUGUST 1257, LONDON, WILLEM FITZOTTO OF GLOUCESTER (THE KING'S GOLDSMITH)
Estimate:
Ā£200,000 - Ā£400,000
SOLD Ā£540,000
22104 - The 'Planta Genista' Auction - A New Gold Penny of Henry III
Description
Henry III (1216-1272), Gold Penny of 20-Pence, authorised 16 August 1257, London, Willem FitzOtto of Gloucester (The King's Goldsmith), h | ENRIC ' REX III, King seated on ornate throne, holding orb and sceptre, rev. WIL | LEM | ON L | VND, voided long cross with lobed terminals, five-leafed petals and trio of pellets in angles, 2.951g [45.54grns], 4h, no m.m. (Evans [NumChron, 1900], Pl. XI, no. 1 = BM E.2135 same obverse die; Lawrence, [BNJ IX, 1912], pp. 145-79; Fitzwilliam Museum, CM 47.2007 same reverse die; North 1000; Spink 1375), slightly crimped with two deft scratches in left obverse field, and resultant friction and light sporadic 'stubble rash', otherwise on a remarkably broad and full weight flan, handsomely uniform and beautifully struck-up, the peripheral details finer even than the sole previous specimen housed in the British Museum since 1810, extremely fine and delightfully 'fresh' thus, of the highest rarity and of international significance as a brand new die pairing, one of only four in private hands; a monument in the Medieval series and the most significant contribution to English Numismatics since the discovery of the Double-Leopard, sold at Spink in 2006."