PREVIEW: THE SANDERS COLLECTION OF EARLY MILLED COINS 19 JULY

Two rare survivors from the reign of Elizabeth I provide strong highlights for this sale, carrying hopes between them of up to £44,000.

The first is an extremely rare Pattern Threepence from 1575, with obverse inscription of Elizabeth as Queen of England, France and Ireland.

Eloy Mestrelle, a Frenchman, had set up England’s first coining press in 1560/1, having left the French mint at Versailles apparently in disgrace. He continued to produce coins for the Tower mint until 1571, apart from a period between 1569 and 1570 when he became caught up in a counterfeiting scandal involving his relative Philip Mestrelle, who was hanged at Tyburn as a result.

Having won a pardon in May 1569, Eloy was able to resume his position a year later only to lose it in 1572 when his equipment was deemed too inefficient.

While Eloy never struck coins again, as D.G. Borden and I.G. Brown reveal in their introduction to The Milled Coins of Elizabeth I, his machinery remained at the Tower and for a short period between 1574 and 1575 was used to strike a small but ‘very handsome’ group (50-52) of sixpenny and threepenny patterns.

Borden and Brown believe that the coins are the work of Derek Anthony, Chief Engraver at the Tower mint at the time, who was possibly testing the abilities of Mestrelle’s machinery.

The example in this sale is extremely fine and toned and guided at £20,000-26,000.

Also on offer is an undated Half-Pound, from 1562. Borden and Brown note that “Bishop Grindal of London refers to these coins in a letter written on 6 June 1562 in which he encloses a sample of the new gold coins made ‘in a manner resembling print’.”

In very slightly creased, but otherwise good to very fine condition, this extremely rare coin is estimated at £15,000-18,000.

Mestrelle was eventually arrested for counterfeiting in 1577, losing his home and his possessions, with his family turned out. Condemned at the Assizes, he tried to save himself by turning queen’s evidence, but to no avail. It seems he suffered the same fate as Philip in April 1578.