GREAT BRITAIN. Pound, 1642. Oxford Mint. Charles I. NGC AU-50.

Exceptionally Rare Oxford Pound Emanating from the Gifford Collection

S-2941; N-2400; Brooker-862 (same dies); Morrieson dies-D/2. Declaration type. Weight: 120.12 gms. Obverse: Charles, holding sword and reins, riding horse trotting left; plumes to right, pile of arms below; checkered or cross-hatched exergue; Reverse: Declaration in two lines between two parallel lines; three plumes above. Superbly struck, with only mild doubling on the reverse side and a bold obverse horseman. EXCEEDINGLY RARE with a checkered exergue, and among the finest known examples, if not the finest. Includes old collectors’ tag stating, “The only other specimen in comparable condition was the Rashleigh, Morrieson coin. That coin however has a bad flaw in the flan near the horse’s head.” This may still ring true, as the two coins share the top spot in the NGC and PCGS population reports, both certified by NGC as AU-50. This piece, however, bears no such planchet flaws to speak of, and is truly a trophy representative of both the variety and the denomination as a whole.

Ex: Dr. Andrew Gifford (1700-1784). Includes tag stating “From the residue of the Gifford Collection, who was librarian at the British Museum in the 18th Century. The major part was given to Geo [sic] II. The remainder untouched since before 1800.” Indeed, this coin appears in no auction records that we are able to find from the 19th or 20th centuries.