Edward III (1327-1377). Gold Half-Noble of three shillings and four pence, third coinage, third period (1346-1351), armoured King standing facing in ship, holding sword and quartered shield, Latin legend and beaded borders surrounding, chevron barred As in legend, ED WAR' Dxx GRaxx Rexxx AnGlxx Zx FRanCx DnSxx hIB, Rev. E in central compartment of ornate cross with lis terminals, crown over lion in each angle, all within beaded and linear tressure of eight arcs, fleurs in spandrels, Latin legend and beaded border surrounding, initial mark cross pattée, DomInExx nExx Inxx FVRORExx TVoxx ARGVAsxx mExx, weight 4.15g (Schneider 6; N.1111; S.1482; Fr.87). Some light surface marks from excavation, a couple of rim imperfections, otherwise good very fine, very few known today, extremely rare. Estimate Value $10,000 - UP
This coin was previously bought from Studio Coins in July 2007 and appears to have been a metal detector find not long before that.
This is an example of the second earliest Half-Noble struck, dating from 1346 with the reverse carrying the initial letter E of King Edward at centre. The Noble and its fractions quickly became the most successful gold denomination not just in England but also for trade into Europe where the denomination was easily divisible into the European Mark. This issue in the third period of the third coinage was indentured on 28th July 1346 with Lote Nicholyn, George Cleckyn and others with a slight reduction in weight from the previous issue. A further indenture in this period with a new master on the 27th January 1349 mentions for the first time the fineness of the gold as 23 carat 3 ½ grains (0.995) fine. Coinage output in this early period was much smaller than what was to follow in the fourth coinage from 1351 with a mere 9,500 pounds in weight of gold issued over the near five year period which is smaller than what was produced in a year not much later. When the famous numismatist W J Potter was researching the Edward III gold coinage in the early 1960s just over half a century ago, the only examples of the gold Half Noble of this coinage known to him were housed in the British Museum with none available in private collections. There are two now in the Schneider Collection, this piece and maybe one or two others today rendering it an extreme rarity.