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Message:: [QUOTE="robp, post: 3695735, member: 96746"]The point about the 'B' mint is that they are dated 1646. At the turn of the year, most Royalist garrisons were on the point of surrendering and in any case did not have sufficient troops to warrant the large number of dies and denominations seen. Exeter and Oxford had attested mints and readily identifiable marks, but Exeter only held out until 13th April, i.e. 3 weeks into the new year and Oxford issues were marked OX. This begs the question as to other possible locations. Worcester was intact until July, but there is reasonable circumstantial evidence to suggest the lis marked coins were from here. 'B' was attributed by Boon to Bridgnorth, while 'A' was given to Ashby de la Zouch, with the Bristol dies smuggled out with the troops following the latter's surrender in September 1645 when they marched first to Oxford and immediately on to Ashby. They were then smuggled out of Ashby in Jan/Feb 1645/6 once they had slighted the castle and were permitted to march to Bridgnorth, but the castle surrendered in the previous November. This idea was postulated to account for the die links between Bristol, 'A' and 'B', with A over BR and B over A overmarks known. However, Boon himself documented the evidence of coining taking place at the Talybont Mills, north of Aberystwyth, in March 1645. This would make a lot more sense as the 'A' mint. The objection that Bushell was holed up on Lundy and unable to communicate with the mainland is not the same as saying he was under siege on Lundy. It would only take a day to reach Aberystwyth by boat, so communication would not be impossible. The amount of possessions the defeated troops were allowed to take with them was also strictly controlled, being laid down in the surrender articles. This would suggest the possessions of the departing troops were checked when leaving. Following the fall of Aberystwyth on 14th April 1646, some troops marched to Denbigh and others to Caernarvon. Denbigh, then Bangor, Caernarvon and Beaumaris was also the route taken by the Chester garrison following the city's surrender in February 1645/6, so there was a reasonable accumulation of Royalist forces in NW Wales in 1646, and more importantly, they didn't surrender until July-ish (sorry, don't have date to hand). The only other large concentration of active Royalist forces I can identify in the west in 1646 is at Raglan near Abergavenny, where a garrison of around 800 was active until mid-summer. Again, not too far from Lundy. All of this means I think that B is somewhere in Wales. Whilst it might be convenient to say that B is Beaumaris on Anglesey, contemporary diary entries show Abergavenny was also known as Bergavenny, with the resultant possibility of it being 'B'. Basically, nobody knows.  And as this is a coin forum and not a history forum, here are a few more Civil War pieces (not necessarily all mine) from locations not already posted. 'A' mint shilling.[ATTACH=full]990494[/ATTACH] Chester halfcrown with the prostrate gerb mark.[ATTACH=full]990496[/ATTACH] HC halfcrown. I'm not totally convinced about Hartlebury, but certain it wasn't struck during the siege of 1646, because the 'siege' only lasted one day - the Bishop's Palace being a moated house and impossible to defend.[ATTACH=full]990497[/ATTACH] 'Welsh Marches' halfcrown. No positive documented attribution of the type, but I'm inclined to think these were the coins mentioned by Besly as those struck by Rude the Coyner at Hereford in October 1644 because this coincides with the recent arrival of Gerard and his 3000 troops from the West Wales campaign. They subsequently spent the winter billeted around Hereford and Monmouth.[ATTACH=full]990499[/ATTACH] And finally, it's definitely dire, but is it Truro as currently listed? A halfcrown with the 'bugle' mark.[ATTACH=full]990500[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]

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