extremely rare harold II penny struck at hastings in 1066 sells for hammer price of £20,000 - at NOONANS MAYFAIR – double its pre-sale estimate –

An extremely rare Harold II penny, dating from 1066, that was struck in Hastings sold for a hammer price of £20,000 – more than double its pre-sale estimate of £6,000-8,000 – in a sale of British Coins and Tokens at Noonans Mayfair on Tuesday & Wednesday, September 19 & 20, 2023. 

Tim Wilkes, Head of the Coin Department at Noonans explained: “There were four reasons why this coin sold so well including its rarity - although coins of Harold II are reasonably common, Hastings is a very rare mint for his reign and obviously there is the historical association of Harold II with Hastings. The condition and the quality of the King’s portrait as well as the provenance, which goes back as far as 1885 and that it was once in the famous Montagu Collection all resulted in the coin fetching more than double its pre-sale estimate.”

He finished: “This coin was sold by an overseas private collector and bought by a private collector in the UK” [lot 124].

Gothic crowns are very popular now and consistently make strong prices, so it was no surprise that three examples did very well. The highest price of the sale was an extremely fine Victoria (1837-1901), ‘Gothic’ Crown dating from 1847 which fetched a hammer price of £26,000 against an estimate of £20,000-26,000. It came from a UK private collection and was bought by an overseas collector [lot 491]. Another one, also 1847, realised a hammer price of £14,000 against an estimate of £8,000-£10,000. This had come from an overseas consignor and bought by an overseas collector [lot 496].

From Ireland, the rarest modern Irish Florin dating from 1943 realised a hammer price of £6,500 against an estimate of £4,000-5,000. Examples are always keenly contested when they are offered for sale, and this was offered by an overseas consignor and purchased by an overseas collector [lot 760].

Among the tokens was the Martin Bridgewater Collection of 17th Century Oxfordshire tokens which sold for a total of £24,995. The highest price of the collection, which comprised 77 lots, was paid for a farthing of Thomas Hurley of Oxford – thought to be the only specimen known - which sold for a hammer price of £3,400 against an estimate of £400-600. It was bought by a UK dealer [lot 1096]