Important British and World Coins

Mary (1542-1567), Testoon, type IIIb, 1558, mm. cross pattée on obv., crown on rev. a (John Acheson) by shield below r of m r, 5.99g/4h (SCBI 35, –; B 20, fig. 795; S 5408). Striking split in edge at 10 o’clock, otherwise very fine and toned, extremely rare (£800-1,000)

Provenance:
S.P. Fay ‘Dundee’ Collection, Bowers & Ruddy/Spink Auction (Los Angeles), 19 February 1976, lot 155.

Patrick Finn, the cataloguer of the Fay collection, stated that there were only 9 specimens known with the initial of the mintmaster John Acheson, who took up the post at the end of 1558; at the time of the Cochran-Patrick sale in 1936 only three examples were believed extant. The pedigree quoted for this coin in the Fay sale catalogue is incorrect; the Cochran-Patrick/Lockett/Asherson specimen passed to J.K.R. Murray, and was part of lot 194 in the Murray sale of 1987