Commonwealth (1649-60), 1656 Unite of 20 Shillings, MS 64 [R5]

Description

Commonwealth (1649-60), Unite, dated 1656, English shield within a fifteen leaf laurel and palm branch, legends issued in English as opposed to Latin, pellet stops both sides, mintmark sun, reads THE COMMONWEALTH OF ENGLAND. Rev, English and Irish shields conjoined, value XX above all within beaded linear circle, legend surrounding, GOD WITH VS, date above 9.05g (S.3208; N.2715; Schneider 344; Bull EGC.27 R5).

A fully rounded strike with handsome and subtle sandstone gold toning, much of the original mint lustre remaining around the periphery, fields reflective. Few unobtrusive die clashes, signs of annealing flaws below the reverse shields presenting as metal stress striation markings, all from the initial strike. Encapsulated and graded as mint state 64 by NGC. Noted as an extremely rare year for the denomination, a complete example with a distinguished provenance trail.

A Lost Parcel from the Celebrated Horace Hird Collection

ex. Baldwin, Spring 1960, purchased for £40.0.0

ex. Achim von Thielau, Jacques Schulman 233, 28-31 March 1960, lot 1624

Other current and established specialists have noted the following. Few examples of the 15 leaf laurel 1656 Unites have been placed into auction since the turn of the millennium, an example sold via Spink (27 June 2016, lot 1274) and another featuring in Stack’s sale, January 2020, lot 20407. The 14 leaf variety has been noted as featuring around nine times in the equivalent time frame. Maurice Bull in his recent publication ‘English Gold Coinage 1649-1816’ has painstakingly analysed the laurel leaf variations for the Unite and managed to contextualise and award them rarity ratings. Hitherto, scholars have not paid such close attention to the leaves within the laurels, of late, they have become central in many catalogues and web descriptions adding a further numismatic value to these glorious pieces. An intriguing coin.