Third (Florin) coinage, second period. Obv: king standing facing in ship holding sword and shield with ED WAR D GRA REX ANGL FRANC DNS HYB legend with single saltire stops. Rev: floriate cross with crowned lions in angles and L at centre within tressure with trefoils in spandrels and +DOMINE NE IN FVRORE TVO ARGVAS ME legend with double saltire stops. Very fine with lustre; weak at centres. Extremely rare; apparently only the third recorded example and unique for these dies. [No Reserve]

PROVENANCE:
Found Norfolk, UK, before 2001.
Private collection of Mr M. H., Norfolk, UK.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.11134-184847.

PUBLISHED:
See Single Finds Register, British Numismatic Journal, BNS, London, forthcoming (this coin).

LITERATURE:
S. 1479A; N. -; see SCBI 57 (Schneider 2), pl.56, 1A (additions to SCBI 47) and SCBI 61 (Schneider 3), pl.38, 1A (additions to SCBI 47 & 57, same coin; different dies to the coin offered here); see also Stewartby, Lord, English Coins 1180-1551, Spink, 2009, p.196 and pl.9, 213 (same coin as Schneider); see Sovereign Rarities, 25 September 2018, lot 20 for comparison (different dies).

FOOTNOTES:
The new gold noble coinage and its fractions of halves and quarters was first struck in July 1344 AD under a contract with Percival of Lucca at London, following the short-lived double-florin (double leopard), florin (leopard) and half florin (helm) issue struck earlier that year (January-July 1344, demonitized August 1344); the new noble coinage bore a completely fresh design, to a new weight and denomination standard and this very first issue depicted a letter 'L' at the centre of the reverse for London. All later issues in this reign depict the rounded medieval 'E' to the reverse (for Edward); all of these first issue coins are extremely rare with Potter listing, in his 1963 work, only two nobles and four quarter nobles showing the 'L' and at that time no example of the half noble had been discovered. Three half nobles are now recorded; one is in the famed Schneider collection (details above), another was on loan at the Fitzwilliam Museum following its sale through a 2006 DNW auction until sold again through Sovereign Rarities sale, 2018, lot 20; this is the third to be offered and is the only example available to collectors. The present example appears to be from different dies to the two previous coins with the initial cross to the reverse being significantly and distinctively off-centre from the central cross limb with which it would normally align.