Baldwin's Auction 64-65 Baldwin's hosts a two-day auction including lots from The Michael Hall Collection, The Strickland Neville Rolfe Collection and The Bishop’s Wood Hoard of Roman Coins.
1243 British Coins. Commonwealth (1649-1660), Gold Unite, 1650, English shield within laurel and palm branch, initial mark sun, .THE.COMMONWEALTH.OF.ENGLAND., toothed border both sides, rev English and Irish shields, value above within beaded circle, date at top, .GOD.WITH.VS., 9.02g (N 2715; S 3208). A broad full round specimen with original mint bloom, a superb example, original die-engravers guide line still visible on the obverse encircling the legend, one light scratch above the obverse shield, otherwise extremely fine and a rarer date, all dates are very rare in this high grade.
Estimate: £8000-10,000
1405 The Strickland Neville Rolfe Collection. British Coins. George III, Pattern Crown, the “Incorrupta”, 1817, struck in silver, by William Wyon, laureate and draped bust right, date below, W.WYON: below rear of drapery, GEORGIUS III D:G: BRITANNIARUM REX, last letter obscured by drapery, toothed border both sides, rev struck en medaille, crowned quartered shield of arms with a crowned escutcheon of the Arms of Hanover, INCORRUPTA FIDES VERITASQUE, edge plain (ESC 229 R4; L&S 159). Attractively toned with a few tiny blotches, mint state FDC, attractive and extremely rare. Lot 1199 from the J T Brockett auction in June 1823 is the first known record of one of these patterns being sold and a note there shows a total mintage of only 25 pieces. According to a manuscript note in one of the surviving copies of this sale, this may include the seven specimens struck in gold, leaving only 18 struck in silver. Strickland Charles Edward Neville Rolfe was born in 1789, eldest son of General Neville of the Royal Artillery. He assumed the name and arms of Rolfe by royal warrant in 1837, upon receiving the bequest of the estates at Heacham and Sedgeford, from Edmund Rolfe, a distant relative who had no issue. Educated at Wadham College, Oxford, BA 1812, MA 1816, he was ordained in 1814. He became domestic chaplain to the Duke of Kent in 1814 and to the Duke of Somerset in 1825. He was appointed vicar of Heacham in Norfolk in1838. His first wife, Agnes, was the only daughter of Henry Fawcett, MP for Carlisle. They married in 1814 and had five sons and four daughters. In 1833 he married Dorothy, widow of the Rev TT Thomason, Chaplain to the Honourable East India Company. Strickland Rolfe died in 1852. Heacham Hall was destroyed by fire in 1941, whilst being occupied by the RAF. The numismatic collection has remained in the hands of descendents and represents a snapshot of the tastes and interests of an educated country gentleman and divine. The English coins span three centuries and include some key rarities, such as the pattern “Incorrupta” and “Three Graces” crowns, as well as some rare and interesting coppers. It is amazing to think that these were probably acquired soon after they were issued, which would account for their remarkable state of preservation.
Estimate: £10,000-15,000
1406 The Strickland Neville Rolfe Collection. British Coins. George III, Pattern
