The Michael Gietzelt Collection of British and Irish Coins (1625-1660)

Charles I (1625-1649), Late Declaration issues, Bridgnorth-on-Severn (?) mint, Halfcrown, 1646, mm. plumelet, plumelet behind horseman, plumelet over a below, plume between two plumelets and scroll above Declaration, date below, 14.55g/2h (Bull 650/3 (D33-2c); Morr. B-3; SCBI Brooker 1123a; N 2516; S 3037). Surfaces rough and tooled in places, nearly very fine with dark tone, very rare
£2,000-£2,600

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Michael Gietzelt Collection of British and Irish Coins (1625-1660).

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Collection

Provenance: S. Simpson Collection; R.P.V. Brettell Collection, Glendining Auction, 28 October 1970, lot 392 [from S.S. 1955]; Sotheby Auction, 19-20 April 1993, lot 149; B.J. Dawson Collection, DNW Auction 156, 21 March 2019, lot 71.

It has long been a subject of controversy where the mint moved after the fall of Bristol in the autumn of 1645. Morrieson believed that Thomas Bushell set up a mint on his own estate on Lundy Island while Symonds opined that the coins were struck by Royalist forces in Devon, at Appledore and Barnstaple, matching the A and B mintmarks. More recently, Boon has attributed the marks to Ashby-de-la-Zouch (Leicestershire) and Bridgnorth-on-Severn (Shropshire), both occupied briefly by Royalists fleeing Bristol to the north and east