Feb/Mar 2019 Baltimore Show: Day 1 (Thursday) + Day 2

EVillageProwler

Got here late due to road work on the interstate. I think I got to the show around 2:30pm and made a beeline to a dealer who has a coin on hold for me to view. I liked it; it's a scarce type that is better than the dealer's images as well as the images from its prior appearance.

GREAT BRITAIN, House of Stuart. Charles I. 1625-1649. AR Crown (43.5mm, 29.67g, 1h). Type 1a. Tower (London) mint; im: lis. Struck 1625. · CAROLVS D’ · G’ · MAG’ · BRI’ · FR’ · ET HIB’ · REX ·, Charles on caparisoned horse left, holding reins and sword aloft; plumes on horse’s head and crupper / CHRIS TO · AVS PICE · R EGNO ·, coat-of-arms over long cross fourchée; shield within ornate frame . Cooper, Silver dies II/I; Brooker 231 (same dies); North 2190; SCBC 2753. VF, toned. An attractive example of this first issue crown.

(From my image, I think the coin is possibly 'Good VF'; in any case, I like it.)

Met up with @Zohar, who did not like the above Crown. We walked to another dealer's table where he asked me to render an opinion on a coin in which he has interest. (I liked it, but I think Zohar has not yet decided what to do.)

Then I met up with a dealer just walking the floor to show me his Anglo-Saxon material. I hemmed and hawed on what to do. He has expensive material, but usually very nice. Me being on a very tight budget and having just bought a Crown, I felt I needed to get creative. I offered him a duplicate coin for a killer Northumbrian Alchred Sceatt. It's a rare type in a very high grade. Unfortunately, I took a big loss on my trade-in coin but there's a couple of positives here: I got a very nice coin; I got rid of a duplicate; I saved some cash; and, I learned a lesson on pricing (you become a better buyer by doing more selling).

ANGLO-SAXON, Kings of Northumbria. Alchred. 765-774. AR Sceatt (14.5mm, 1.24g, 7h). York mint. Retrograde A·L·CH down right side, RED down left side, both read from outside, cross pattée / Quadruped standing right, raising foreleg; small cross pommée below. Booth, Sceattas 14 (dies M/l); Pirie, Guide 2.5b var. (legend); SCBI 69 (Abramson), 864 (same obv. die); SCBC 849. Good VF, toned. Rare.

(I strongly disagree with the grade given above; the coin has nice lustrous surfaces — I can see flow lines!)

After that, I walked around semi-aimlessly and then went to dinner at L.P. Steamers with some Liteside dealers:

bidask

Looks like very nice coins you bought there !

Boosibri

Crabs look good too!

bronzemat

Lovely coins love the crown.

Good crab hoard too.

Nap

Always nice to see Northumbrian coins under discussion.

Alchred was a little-known monarch in the mid-late 8th century. Almost nothing is known of him besides his name and his coins. Coins of Alchred are fairly rare and often not that nice. They typically have poor metal with surface silver breakdown and base metal exposed due to debasement, compared with coins of the previous king (Eadberht)

Coins of Alchred take two forms- the type you have which has a fantastic creature facing right, with cross below, and the king’s name on the other side. The reading of the name can be conventional or can be interrupted, as it is on the above coin. To read yours it starts with ALCH, then you go back to the beginning and start reading the other way.. RED. (Why it is written this way is of course not known but it may have meant something at the time. This legend arrangement is also seen on coins of Alchred’s successor Aelfwald I.)

The other type of Alchred coin is a joint issue with Alchred and Ecgberht, Archbishop of York. Ecgberht was only alive for a year into Alchred’s reign and this latter issue is more rare than the animal type.

Here are my examples of both types-

EVillageProwler

Day 2 (Friday) started terribly but appears will end up nicely.

I got almost no sleep because, for reasons of friendship and nostalgia, I share a hotel room with two other close friends with whom we've been doing the coin collecting gig for over 20 years. And, the lack of sleep is due to the mutually incompatible sleeping issues of last night. (We usually are fine, but last night was an exception; I am tired enough, and our room rate is low enough that I am considering getting my own room for November.)

Anyway, I was slow in getting out of my room this morning; poor @Zohar waited for us in the lobby patiently. After breakfast, we got to the show and went our separate ways. I chatted up CRO again (I had wanted to see his two Gunmoney half crowns, which he did NOT bring) and CNG again. Victor was very friendly (he's not unfriendly, but at the time I was there he was not busy) and chatty. Later, he directed me to another dealer's table with whom I had never before done business (nor, in fact, knew of his existence -- shocking since he is a regular dealer at Baltimore and I am a regular attendee) and who generally deals in material I may have interest.

I find two coins of interest at Andy Singer's table, but I buy one because of tight funds:

IRELAND. James II. 1685-1691. Æ Gunmoney Halfcrown (27mm). Civil War issues of 1689-1691. Dated May, 1690. · IACOBVS · II · · DEI · GRATIA ·, laureate head left / · MAG · BR · FRA · ET · HIB · REX ·; 1690 XXX over crown and crossed sceptres; May below, J R to either side. SCBC 6580B. EF, even dark brown surfaces with slight amount of green encrustation by the month.

In 1688 James II fled from England to France and the English crown passed to his daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange. After drumming up Catholic support on the Continent, James landed in Ireland in March 1689 to continue his struggle to regain control. Having insufficient funds to underwrite his war efforts, a plan was devised to issue official base metal token coins which would be exchanged for sterling silver once the war was won. Shortly after the coins' inception, months were added to the dates to facilitate a staggered redemption plan, once the war was won. The coins were made of brass from old cannon, bells and other scrap metal. They would later become known as 'Gunmoney' coins. After William III seized the Dublin mint after the Battle of Boyne, the coins were demonetized.

I was quite pleased with this purchase. I have been wanting a nice Gunmoney Halfcrown for a while now, and the coin was very affordable. Sweet!

Afterwards, I went to Charles Davis' table and bought the following:

He is also in touch with PMS of DNW to get me Bull Vol.1 as well as sending me the Brooker SCBI from his office after the show.

Then, ran into @Stork and walked the floor together for a bit before both of us deciding to crash back in our respective rooms.

Tonight I am meeting with a couple dark side forum members for dinner. More later if worthy of an update.

EVillageProwler

I should point out that Victor England liked the two coins I picked out at Andy Singer's table, so that makes me feel good.

EVillageProwler

I finally finished my images:

I also re-shot two my other two Charles I Crowns:

Zohar

Your imaging has really improved with practice. Very nice!

worldcoinguy

Nice run EVP. I am partial to the planchet cracks in the devices of the 1645/46 crown. It gives the piece good personality.

EVillageProwler

@Zohar said:
Your imaging has really improved with practice. Very nice!

Thanks. It's very time-consuming to do the imaging (I have a copy stand at home, but sometimes my iPhone does a better job than my regular camera -- go figure!) but the hardest part is learning all the little tricks of Photoshop.

@worldcoinguy said:
Nice run EVP. I am partial to the planchet cracks in the devices of the 1645/46 crown. It gives the piece good personality.

Thanks. Those planchet 'cracks' are flan stress fractures. But what else nice about it are the die flow lines as well as die striations. It's really a beautiful coin in hand. And, I got it for far less than I was willing to pay -- but that is what sometimes happen in auctions.

EVP

Boosibri

I have the Gunmoney book here if you need anything in the mean time. I chatted with the author at the Birmingham show in England when the book was release. Nice guy!

EVillageProwler

@Boosibri said:
I have the Gunmoney book here if you need anything in the mean time. I chatted with the author at the Birmingham show in England when the book was release. Nice guy!

Thanks. Kindly tell me the title and author of it. I may want to add it to my library (even though I probably will never really care that much about the series beyond getting nice type material!).

EVillageProwler

My final NEWP from Baltimore arrived about a week ago: