Evening PostRare Bristol coin up for auction
Thursday, October 01, 2009, 07:00
A rare silver coin made in Bristol more than 350 years ago is due to be auctioned to the highest bidder today. The 366-year-old silver coin was made during the English Civil War and is expected to fetch up to £900 at Spink auctioneers in Bloomsbury, London. Despite its age the 1643 King Charles I Bristol half-crown is in very fine condition according to Spink. Although a half-crown would be worth only around 13 pennies in modern money, it was possible to live quite comfortably in Bristol for more than a week on a half crown back in 1643. The date on the coin is an important one in local history, as 1643 was the year of the siege of Bristol.
Prince Rupert of the Rhine, 23-year-old Czech-born nephew of King Charles I, travelled from Oxford with 20,000 Royalist soldiers to free Bristol from Parliamentary control. Colonel Nathaniel Fiennes, Parliamentary governor of Bristol, at first refused to surrender but in the end he did. Bristol promised to raise £140,000 to avoid being sacked, and the coin was made to pay a Royalist soldier. On Tuesday a scarce Bristol five pound note, produced nearly 200 years ago when Bristol printed its own money, was sold for £600 at Spink. Before the auction it had been expected to fetch between £150 to £200. The black and white note, with its value underprinted in pale blue, was issued by the privately-owned Bristol Bank on August 14, 1820, just four weeks after the Coronation of King George IV and the year Florence Nightingale was born. In the late 1700s and early 1800s there were several privately-owned banks in Bristol, all printing their own money. Head of the banknotes department at Spink Barnaby Faull said: "All towns and cities in England used to issue their own banknotes. Merchants would get together and start up their own banks, but their notes – which were like IOUs – could only be used locally. "When many of these provincial banks went bust their notes became completely worthless."
Spink is offering a free valuation to Evening Post readers who own any antique coins or bank notes. For details, call 0207 563 4000.
And here is more on the West Country theatre in 1643.