MORTON & EDEN APRIL 2024 SALE

The Motcomb Collection contains spectacular Charles I silver coins of exceptional rarity and quality, many of the provincial and siege pieces being numbered amongst the finest known specimens. Gold coins are represented by three Tower mint unites, three Oxford triple unites and a Scottish unite by Nicholas Briot. Chosen with great discernment, most of the coins are accompanied by tickets confirming their distinguished earlier provenances and, sometimes, by more recent notes.

In this catalogue we have generally, though not invariably, followed the arrangement of the well known sylloge of the John G. Brooker Collection, compiled by J.J. North and P.J. Preston-Morley (Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles, vol. 33, Spink, 1984).

It will be noticed that some of the old tickets offered with the Motcomb coins, as well as earlier references, cite attributions to provincial mints which cannot ever have existed. These include the North Devon locations Appledore, Barnstaple (or Bideford) and Combe Martin, as well as the remote Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel, to which Thomas Bushell retired in 1645. Writing in 1984, George Boon (see introduction to Brooker, op. cit.) suggested that Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Bridgnorth are two plausible mint locations for some of the ‘late Declaration' coins marked with ‘A', ‘B' or ‘Plumes'; these were evidently made by Bushell's moneyers, using his tools. See also Edward Besly, Coins and Medals of the English Civil War (2019) for observations on possible Welsh associations for these coins, the accumulated and continuing hoard evidence.

Regarding the series of issues produced by Sir Thomas Cary's West Country mints, it is today generally considered that ‘W' stands for Worcester (certainly not Weymouth) and ‘SA' for ‘Salopia' (not Salisbury).

Part I of the Motcomb Collection, an extensive series of hammered groats, was sold on 17 March 2017 and the final portion will be offered later this year.

Other properties in today's auction include a gold pattern unite dated 1630 by Nicholas Briot and a specialist collection of rare Charles I sixpences (a denomination not represented, for the most part, in the Motcomb Collection). The sale concludes with a fine group of historical and commemorative medals broadly associated with the family and times of Charles I and with the Civil War, including selections from the Paul Christensen Collection.

For more information, or to bid, see:
https://www.mortonandeden.com/

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