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(NEW ADDITIONS LISTED 22nd Feb 2010)

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE HENRY III CLASS 5D'S

By Mike R Vosper

A PRELIMINARY PAPER WAS GIVEN TO THE ESSEX NUMISMATIC SOCIETY FOR DISCUSSION 28/8/98. NOW REVISED WITH ADDITIONAL SPECIMENS.

ADDITIONS No. 24a, 27a and 36a ADDED 20/3/2000

(New additions to be listed 2010)

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Back in May 1998, I purchased a group of Henry III Long-X Voided Pennies. There were approximately 430 in total, mostly of Canterbury. When I started sorting through this large number I spotted that something strange had happened in the so called class 5d's, it's 'mules' and also it's close relative, the class 5c.

For a start there were no 5d-e 'mules' present. There were some 5c's with a trefoil of pellets in the crown (Crown 2) (Coin nos. 1-5) (Obv. 1) and some had a lis in the reverse legend (Lis) (Coins no. 6-10) (Rev. 6). Secondly, the 5d's were of vastly different die cutting when you compare them as a group.

I found it hard to except them all as just 5d's, especially when you consider the differences between a 5b & a 5c is a round eye or an oval eye! This intrigued me a little and I began to wonder if there were any divisible features in this group. The first thing I noticed was that there was a lot of 'muling' going on between 5c/5d, 5d/5c in the group and I wondered if these so called 'mules' were actually true 'mules'!

The easiest way to find out is to break the coins down into different features i.e. crowns, letter punches, style etc. See list of 41 coins below along with their different punches. It must be pointed out that all these classes are essentially artificial as these changes may have evolved over a period of time or even abruptly.

The coins so far recorded.

P.W. = Ex. Peter Woodhead collection. R.C.B. = Ex. R. Carlyon Britton collection. L.A.L. = Ex. L. A. Lawrance collection. E.J. = Ex. F. Elmore Jones collection.

The first thing you will notice is that I have split them into groups representing my new class structure (5d1, 5d2 & 5d3 with additional * varieties) I've also included the old class numbers 5c/5d 5d & 5d/5c as well.

Thoughts on each individual group

Firstly lets look at class 5c with the trefoil crown (see my class 5c*, coins 1-5) (Obv. 1) You will notice that I have given it 5c* as a true 5c as this has a crown of 3 pellets joined by lines (see 'crowns' fig. 1.) and not a trefoil (see 'crowns' fig. 2.) thus showing it not to be a true 5c, but every other characteristic i.e. 'h,S,R' and most importantly the 'X' (see letter X fig. 1) is as a 5c. I've included this as it's more often than not 'muled' with a 5d reverse (see my class 5d1, reverses 2,3,4 & 5). Going back to the 430 or so coins, the only 5c* true is shown (see coin 1.) & 5c*/5d1 'mules' are represented by no less than 4 coins (see coins 2,3,4 & 5) thus one may assume that the 5c* obverse was probably made to pair with a 5d reverse thus not a true 'mule'? To top this I have another three obverses, this time with the correct crown punch (see 'crowns' fig. 1.) for a 5c. Firstly:- obverse 2 (see my class 5c, coins 6,7 & 8.) this time with an extremely unusual feature, a lis (lis) in the reverse legend (reverse 6, see my class 5d lis., coins 6,7 & 8.) true coins or 'mules'? Probably true coins as I have only found it with my class 5d lis reverse (5d lis rev.) Second & thirdly:- obverse 3 (see my class 5c, coins 9,10 & 11.) & obverse 4 (see my class 5c, coins 12 & 13.) coins, again I had 430 coins, this time these class 5c obverse's were only found paired together with a 5d reverse (reverses 2, 5 & 6) of some description. So are these true coins or 'mules' because these obverse's were not found paired with a reverse of any 5c?

Crown 1 Crown 2

Crown 3 single Crown 3 double

h ty.1. h ty.2. h ty.3.

Lis

R ty.1. R ty.2. R ty.3. R ty.4.

S ty.1. S ty.2.

X ty.1. X ty.2.

Secondly the 3 main 5d groupings are easily distinguishable by these facts:-

Style:-

(1) 5d1. Has a crude representation of the bust. (coin 14-18, obv. 5 & 6) Suggested alternative name is Cl.5d crude.
(2) 5d2. Usual later class 5 style bust (comparable to 5e, f & g) (coins 19-31, obv. 7-14) Suggested alternative name is Cl.5d normal.
(3) 5d3. Unusually fine in style (superior to any other Henry III Long-X Pennies) (coin 32-41, obv. 15-18) Suggested alternative name is Cl.5d fine.

Die-cutting:-

(1) 5d1. Crude, inner circles irregular with over-lapping pellets & double-cutting of Voided Long-X. (i.c.s. are c9.5mm). Suggested alternative name is Cl.5d crude.
(2) 5d2. Normal quality of die-cutting generally very well placed and no over cutting to correct pellets & lines (i.c.s are c9.5mm). Suggested alternative name is Cl.5d normal.
(3) 5d3. Unusually fine die-cutting with no re-cutting of the dies and well executed pellets & lines (i.c.s are c10mm). Suggested alternative name is Cl.5d fine.

The above facts make these classes (5d1, 2, & 3) easily distinguishable. Other facts make it obvious that they should be listed as separate classes.

Class 5c and d obverses

Class 5c and d reverses

There are only 3 mints operating in class 5d, Canterbury, as per this work, London & Bury St Edmunds. The moneyers (Italic type) are the moneyers that we have for Canterbury:-

Conclusion

The 5c & 5c* & its 'mules' listed in this paper are strange, to say the least, especially considering no links were found with obverses of 5c true and reverses of 5c. To make this even more stranger I have the unusual trefoil crown which is almost always 'muled'. The lis reverse type which is traditionally listed as a 5d is always 'muled' with a traditional 5c. No conclusions can be drawn from this, are there any suggestions?

As you can see from the above, you now know why I've questioned all the coins being listed as just 5d's.

The 5d's go through a dramatic change in style from the crudest, of any Long-X Voided Pennies, to an unusually fine style. I do wonder if this represents some politics of the time. Some suggestions may be that perhaps the original die-cutter was no longer available (died) thus an emergency die-cutter was introduced who produced the crude 5d's and later a suitable replacement was then found who manufactured the fine style. Or there may have been a big shake up at the mints with persons removed due to manufacturing under-weight coins, forgeries and such like. These are very loose ideas & represent pure speculation as I have not at this stage investigated what exactly happened during this period. Suggestions?

The so-called old class 'mule' 5d/5c's (my 5d3, coins 33-35, 37-41) has a 'C' in the reverse legend rather than a 'k'. This is the only fact that supports the old class being a 5c on the reverse. This is incorrect as all are in fact true 5d's and not 'mules'. There are certain facts to support this:-
(1) Style of die-cutting, such as my 5d3 obverses, is well executed.
(2) 'h' & 'R's, such as my 5d3 obverses.
(3) Pellets are found on my 5d3 obverses just before III in 'hENRICVS REX III'. These occur also on the so-called old class 5c in the reverse legend & on the 'N's, the same as my 5d3's.

So you can see the obverse originally listed as a 5d with a reverse of 5c was in fact cut at the same time as the obverse and probably by the same hand, thus a true 5d of fine style.

I hope that this paper is of interest, even to the Numismatists that have no particular interest in Henry III pennies, and I look forward to receiving any correspondence on this particular subject, or for that matter any coin related research.

NEW ADDITIONS LISTED 22nd Feb 2010

Bury St Edmunds

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Three London's

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Regards,

Mike R Vosper.

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