Where it all started

And what is the coin that lays claim to all these attributes? The 1551 Edward VI crown.

The earliest dated English crown is the 1551 of Edward VI, the first year of his Fine Silver Issue. This is the most famous of the crowns from the Lingford collection. Herbert Lingford was the great student of Edward VI crowns, and his classification of the dies is still followed today. It would be expected that his collection should contain the best available at the time. The dispersal of his collection at Glendining was in October 1950.

Then, the 1551 crown offered here was lot 20, and described thus: “1551, a variety of last, dies E-10, believed to be the best known specimen. In beautiful state and nicely toned. Ex-Thyssen, Edmunds, Durrant, Sparkes, Brice, Montagu, and Murdoch collections.”

Under lot 837 in the second Montagu sale at Sotheby’s, on May 11-16, 1896, this coin is described as in brilliant condition, and has Montagu’s note: “This coin has been considered to be the finest specimen known.”

The coinage of Edward VI is full of interest, especially considering the shortness of the young King’s reign. The 1551 crown is naturally of the greatest importance in English coinage being the first dated crown, but this example is the finest known. Its significance therefore increases dramatically. At the Lingford sale in 1950 there were no fewer than 28 examples of the date, illustrating 28 different combinations of dies. The majority sold for less than £10. Two sold for over £20, one each to Spink and Baldwin, and Spink paid a remarkable £34 for another. Spink and Baldwin battled it out for lot 20, and although Spink had bids from three collectors, Baldwin won the coin for the Slaney collection, but the price was an astonishing £88, well over double the next highest price, and 20 times the price of a fine example.

Now, just over 50 years later, it carries is an estimate of £10,000.

The Slaney collection was formed in the 1940s and 1950s by a passionate collector who, in his search for the very best examples, was willing to pay high prices, and the quality of the collection is therefore truly breathtaking. There has been talk of a “fabled” and “long lost” collection that for years has baffled students of English coins, a collection formed by a very private individual who never attended an auction, and who did not even visit the London dealers from whom he was buying. The whereabouts of the coins he purchased, many of them famous coins from such sales as Lingford, Ryan, Raynes and Lockett, is a question that has for decades taxed the minds and imaginations of collectors keen to locate these famous gems of English numismatics. The publication of this collection will finally fill in many of the gaps in our knowledge.