East India Company, Portcullis issues, Elizabeth I (1558-1603), silver Two Testerns or Quarter-Dollar, mm. O [1600/01], crowned arms dividing crowned e r, : elizabeth · d’· g’· an’· fr’· et · hiber’· regin’· [Elizabeth by the grace of God Queen of England France and Ireland], rev. : posvi · devm · adivtorem · mevm · [I have appointed God my helper], crowned portcullis, 6.72g/12h (Prid. 3 (a); BCW 2; Comber Sale 272 and Ford Sale 486, same dies; S 2607C). Good very fine and round, toned, very rare and with an important 17th century provenance [certified and graded NGC AU 53] £9,000-£12,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Puddester Collection.

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Collection

Abp J. Sharp Collection, Glendining Auction (London), 5 October 1977, lot 349
Spink Auction 190 (London), 27 September 2007, lot 570.

Owner’s ticket.

John Sharp (c. 1645-1714), appointed Archbishop of York in 1691, began collecting coins in 1687 and was in contact with several other English numismatists of the day, including John Evelyn. The collection was left to his son and passed down the family for more than 250 years, before being organised by the late Owen Parsons and catalogued for two auctions, one of world coins and historical medals at Sotheby’s in 1966, the other of English coins at Glendining’s in 1977. Sharp provenances are among the oldest available in numismatics.

In the opinion of the cataloguer the NGC grade is an extremely conservative third-party opinion