British Tokens

18th Century Tokens, Ayrshire, Ayr, William Fullarton, Restrike Pattern Sixpence, 1799, in gold, by W.J. Taylor from dies by and after J. Milton, bust of the Prince of Wales left, no stop before date, flaw on bust below ear, rev. from the same die as previous, edge plain, 6.89g/12h (Dykes, BNJ 2002, pp.157-8; Stainton 31C; ST 298; DH 5 bis III). Tiny heart-shaped test mark to left of what remains of the artist’s signature, minor flan flecking and hairlines, otherwise brilliant and practically as struck on a thick flan, of the highest rarity and with an unbroken provenance from new £3,000-4,000

Provenance: E. Shorthouse Collection; W.N. Clarkson Collection, Sotheby Auction, 16-20 April 1901, lot 505; S.H. Hamer Collection, Glendining Auction, 26-8 November 1930, lot 705; F.S. Cokayne Collection, Glendining Auction, 17-18 July 1946, lot 388; K. Showering Collection, Glendining Auction, 12 May 1976, lot 67; H. Selig Collection, Part II, Spink Auction 131, 2 March 1999, lot 1443; S.A. Bole Collection.

Edmund Shorthouse (c. 1837-1916), the Birmingham collector who was a conduit for the works of W.J. Taylor and Joseph Moore, is given as the provenance for this coin in the Hamer sale catalogue; maybe the dealer James Verity, who secured the coin for Hamer at the Clarkson sale in 1901, was able to ascertain that it was Shorthouse from whom Clarkson, a collector from Whitby, Yorkshire, obtained it, presumably privately. As far as can be ascertained it was not included in any of the four Shorthouse dispersals at auction pre-1891. At least one other specimen in gold from these dies has changed hands recently (Baldwin Auction 52, 25 September 2007, lot 552, 3.91g, die-axis not stated, £4,200); whether this is the coin once owned by J.G. Murdoch (Sotheby May 1903, lot 373: Dykes, BNJ 2002, p.156, footnote 31) cannot now be proved