Important British and World Coins

James VIII (d. 1766), Pattern Crown, 1716, by M. Young from dies by N. Roettier, in copper, struck on a thick flan, laureate bust right, reads iacobus viii, etc, r on lower ribbon of wreath tie, rev. crowned arms, r on foot of harp, edge plain, 31.39g/6h (Woolf –; B 1, fig. 1094, same dies; S 5734). Die flaw across obverse, otherwise virtually as struck and patinated, of the highest rarity (£3,000-3,500)

See ‘A Jacobite Mystery: Thomas Coats’s 1716 Pattern Crown’ by Nick Holmes, SNC August 2005, pp.245-6. The Coats coin, the only other specimen recorded, is struck en medaille in silver.

It is thought that, as a result of the severe crack sustained by the obverse die, this pair of dies was discarded by Norbert Roettier and a new pair prepared (see next lot)