425, Lot: 796. Estimate $300. Sold for $425. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ANGLO-GALLIC. Edward the Black Prince. As Prince of Aquitaine, 1362-1372. AR Esterlin – Sterling (18mm, 1.12 g, 12h). Limoges mint. Second issue, circa 1365-8. : ЄD · PO : GIT · RЄG · ΛnG · L (double and single rosette stops, but double pellets before ЄD), half-length figure right, holding sword and raising left hand / · PRI CPS ΛQV TΛЄ, long cross pattée, triple pellets in quarters. AGC 212 (6/d); Elias 192 var. (marks in legends); SCBC 8133; cf. Poey d' Avant 2973; Roberts 6806. VF, lightly toned, typical minor ghosting. Rare.

From the BRN Collection, purchased from Andy Singer, January 2006.

This coin was part of the first coinage of the Black Prince that comprised the currency of Aquitaine for the years 1362-1368. The obverse type occurs on all three silver denominations of this coinage, but the exact meaning of such an innovative and novel type is uncertain. At the very least, it is a purely militaristic type, and reflects the tenor of Edward's time. More interestingly, the portrait on these issues is strikingly similar to the depiction of the prince in contemporary paintings - highly unusual in the Medieval period. The sterling was replaced by the Hardi d'Argent in Edward's second coinage that was struck following a revaluation of the currency of Aquitaine on 1 May 1368 (which probably resulted from the Spanish adventure).