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KING STEPHEN IPSWICH CUT HALFPENNY OFFERED
A rare Ipswich cut halfpenny of King Stephen is being offered at auction.
-Editor
A half of one of the world's rarest coins is to be auctioned off in Suffolk next weekend. This King Stephen cut halfpenny was minted in Ipswich during a reign lasting between 1135 and 1154. Bidding will start at around the £150 mark when coin collectors and dealers bid for it at Martlesham auctioneers Lockdales on Saturday, January 28. Auction manager James Sadler said: "There are only four of these coins known in the whole world." "This is a genuinely rare coin", and that isn't a term I use lightly. "Back in the days when it was minted in Ipswich, the town was a very big trading place, one of the biggest in the country."
It's a fun hook for a headline, but cut coinage was quite common at the time, being how people typically made change without the benefit of smaller denomination coins. So the half coin is a legitimate numismatic item in itself. But I can only imagine the market reception of a rare modern coin cut thusly. Wanna buy a rare 1894-S half dime?
-Editor
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