Edward I (1272-1307), New coinage, Penny, class 1b, London, reads ed rex, full face bust with bushy hair, no drapery, all ns reversed except in hibn, 1.20g/12h (SCBI North 24; N 1011; S 1381). Small edge chip and surfaces porous, otherwise good fine, extremely rare £800-£1,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The North Yorkshire Moors Collection of British Coins.

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Provenance: A metal detector find, 1995; W.J. Conte Collection [from Baldwin]; bt W.J.C. November 1996.

The class 1b pence of Edward I, first subdivided as such by H.B. Earle Fox and Shirley Fox (BNJ 1910, pp.107-8), have long been regarded as by far the rarest of all the Edwardian penny series. Considered patterns by early sale cataloguers (cf. Montagu, Murdoch) and even as a pattern of Edward III by the Grantley cataloguer, their exalted status has been questioned in recent years (J.J. North, The Coinages of Edward I & II, London, 1968, p.15; N.J. Mayhew, The Aberdeen Hoards, BNJ 1988, p.43; J.J. North Sylloge, 1989, p.9; P. and B. Withers, The Pennies of Edward I and II, 2006, pp.20-1)