I just received this coin from a London dealer. It is Richard II grote or four pence piece. All of these coins were struck at the Tower of London Mint. Richard II coins are generally hard to find because they contained too much silver. Many of them were melted, and most of the survivors are low grade. + RICARD x DIxx GRAxx REXx AnGLxZx FRAnCIE Z “Richard by the grace of God, king of England and France” Inner legend: CIVI TAS LON DON “City of London” (mint) Outer Legend: +POSVI DEVmxx A DIVTOR Emxx mEV “I have made God my helper.” Bushy Hair, Type III bust, ‘fishtail serifs on letters. S-1680, N-1321 (a), Very Rare. Ex W. J. W. Potter, English part of the collection purchased by A. H. Baldwin c. 1970-1.
A super coin, @johnmilton. I like the strong portrait. A fine (but slightly crude) halfpenny is all I have of Richard II.
Yes, that's my other Richard II coin. Richard III is also hard to get in nice condition. PCGS called this piece "EF-45." The guy who graded this piece probably looked like this. I hope to up grade this in 2023. Richard III's successor, Henry IV, is also hard to get. Dealers showed me pieces that looked like they had been run over by a railroad train, and told me they were "a bargain" at $2,800. I ended up buying a gold noble. It is also over graded by PCGS as an AU-58, but it's a presentable coin. All of these coins are hard to get because they many of them were melted. The British finally lowered the weight of their coinage at the end of Henry IV's reign, but he only had a little over a year to live after they did it. Therefore the lower weight coins are still scarce.
The new Richard II is a definite upgrade. Im not well versed on the series, but with your comments on it being tough to find nice examples (always nice to learn something) that coin appears to be really great. Nice pickup and thanks for sharing
@johnmilton, very nice find. Love the gold noble. I have only a few gold coins but I prefer the older coins.
