Coin struck in Shrewsbury up for sale
A silver coin, which dates back almost 400 years, could fetch up to £3,500 when it comes under the hammer.
The rare silver one pound coin was struck at the Shrewsbury Mint in 1642 shortly after King Charles 1 arrived in the town at the start of the English Civil War.
And it is set to take centre stage at an auction in London on September 26.
Shrewsbury Civil War coins are comparatively rare because the Shrewsbury Mint lasted for only three months before the King and his army moved on to set up their headquarters at Oxford.
The coin is expected to fetch between £3,000 and £3,500 and auctioneers say that the coin is rare and, despite scratches and a test cut to edge, is in 'very fine' condition,.
Known as a ‘Declaration’ type, it features the declaration King Charles 1 made at Wellington on September 20,1642 that he would ‘preserve the Protestant Religion,the laws of England and the liberty of Parliament.’
The declaration reads in abbreviated form : “Relig.Prot.Leg.Ang.Liber.Par.”
From Wellington, the King and his army marched to Shrewsbury, where he was joined by his sons, the Prince of Wales, and Prince Rupert.
The King remained in Shrewsbury until October 12, when he marched to Bridgnorth and from there made his way to Edge Hill, Warwickshire, where the first major battle of the English Civil War took place.
Gregory Edmund, a coins specialist at London auction house, Spink, said : "The coin, while not a spectacular rarity on the open market, has an enduring popularity with collectors for being the largest English silver coin ever struck for value.
"At a time when intrinsic metal content was vital in guaranteeing a coin’s worth, 120g of silver were needed to provide a coin of ‘twenty shillings’ or one pound.
"It is all the more popular for it having been struck during the time of the English Civil War.
"Clearly in the confusion of the period an individual has decided to test cut this specimen to establish whether the coin was of solid silver throughout or possibly a counterfeit coin of base metal, which had started to appear as a result of the loss of overall governance in in the country.”
In 2012, a hoard of English Civil War coins, and coins from other reigns, was found in a field at Bitterley, near Ludlow, by metal detector enthusiast Howard Murphy. The 137 coins were found in a leather purse inside an earthenware pot and buried about twelve inches down and were thought to have been buried in a hurry.
