A resource for collectors, metal-detectorists and students
Early Edwardian Pennies
Group 3
Type 3a (1280-1281) - Spink 1387; North 1016
Coins of type 3a are readily identifiable by the form of the drapery. A curved line with hooked ends realistically conveys the impression of a collar encircling the king’s neck. The crown is usually trifoliate, but occasionally bifoliate. It has pearl ornaments, a feature that it shares with the crowns of types 3b and 3bc, but which is not found elsewhere within the group. The letter A is barred, C and E are open, N is normal and S is composite. Contractive marks are usually crescents or solid half-circles, but commas are also occasionally used.
King’s name: EDW
Mints: London only
Type 3b (1280-1281) - Spink 1388; North 1017
As with the preceding type, coins of type 3b are primarily identifiable by the form of the drapery. In this case it is depicted as a segment of a circle. The crown is usually trifoliate, but occasionally bifoliate. It has pearl ornaments, a feature that it shares with the crowns of types 3a and 3bc, but which is not found elsewhere within the group. The letter A is barred, C and E are open, N is normal and S is composite. Contractive marks are usually crescents or solid half-circles, but commas are also occasionally used.
King’s name: EDW
Mints: Bristol, Canterbury, Durham, London, York (royal)
Type 3bc (1280-1281) - Spink -; North 1017/1
Coins of type 3bc have a crown with pearl ornaments, as types 3a and 3b, but drapery of two wedges as used on later types in the group. The letter A is barred, C and E are open, N is normal and S is composite. Contractive marks are crescents. Burns noted a Canterbury coin of this type in the Dumfries hoard, but it has not subsequently been traced.
King’s name: EDW
Mints: London (see above)
Type 3c (1280-1281) - Spink 1389; North 1018
Type 3c coins have a crown with spearhead ornaments and straight, trifoliate side-fleurs. The drapery is described by the Foxes as “composed of a single curved band … broader on one side of the bust than on the other”. They go on to say that 3c gradually merges into the following type, which has “drapery made of two triangular pieces”. In practice it is often difficult to distinguish between the two forms, and some numismatists prefer to amalgamate the two types as 3cd. Some early coins have a letter H with an incurved tail, as the illustrated example, in which case, they are more likely to be of type 3c.
King’s name: EDW
Mints: Bristol, Bury, Canterbury, Durham, Lincoln, London, York (royal)
Type 3d (1280-1281) - Spink 1390; North 1019
As indicated in the description of 3c, the drapery of 3d consists of “two triangular pieces”. However these two pieces often overlap and are then virtually indistinguishable from the “single curved band … broader on one side of the bust than on the other” of type 3c. For this reason, some numismatists prefer to amalgamate the two types as 3cd. The letter A is barred, C and E are open, N is normal and S is composite. Contractive marks are usually crescents, but commas and thin wedges also occur.
King’s name: EDW
Mints: Bristol, Bury, Canterbury, Lincoln, London
Type 3e (1280-1281) - Spink 1391; North 1020
Coins of type 3e were struck only at the northern mints, as listed below. They have a long face with a pointed chin, and narrow shoulders with slight drapery in the form of two wedges. The crown has straight trifoliate side-fleurs, and distinctive large spearhead ornaments. Some coins of the York (episcopal) mint have a quatrefoil on the king’s breast, as well as the usual one at the centre of the reverse cross (gallery image 2). The letter A is barred, C and E are open, N is usually normal, but there is a pellet on the crossbar on some coins, S is composite. Contractive marks are crescents.
King’s name: EDW
Mints: Durham, Newcastle, York (royal), York (episcopal)
Type 3f (1280-1281) - Spink 1392; North 1021
Coins of type 3f have a broad face of coarse execution, with a large nose. The crown is trifoliate with outwardly curved side-fleurs. The letter A is barred, C and E are open and N is normal, except on coins of York, where the Lombardic form is used. S is always non-composite (thick-waisted) on the obverse, but reverses occur with both the non-composite and composite form. Coins with the composite form of S on the reverse (as the first gallery image) may be 3f/3d or 3f/3g mules, but as 3d and 3g respectively precede and supersede 3f, it is arguable that the 3f coins with a composite S on the reverse are true coins. Contractive marks are either long thin wedges or crescents.
King’s name: EDW
Mints: Bristol, Canterbury, Lincoln, London, York (royal), York (episcopal)
Type 3g (1280-1281) - Spink 1393; North 1022
Coins of type 3g have a small smiling face and a trifoliate crown with outwardly curved side-fleurs, of which there are three varieties. The labels 3g1, 3g2 and 3g3 are sometimes applied on the basis of these crowns, which are illustrated as gallery images 1, 2 and 3 respectively. The letter A is barred, C and E are open, N is usually normal, but is also very rarely found unbarred or with a pellet on the crossbar, S may be either composite or non-composite (thick-waisted). Contractive marks are usually crescents or solid half-circles, but small commas with a flat top (‘bird claws’), large commas and long thin wedges also occur.
King’s name: EDW
Mints: Bristol, Bury, Canterbury, Chester, Durham, Lincoln, London
3bc Note
Although the Foxes illustrated a coin of this type in their paper, it was not incorporated in their classification. The designation 3bc has been applied by later numismatists. It is included in the Burns classification, where it is designated A11.
3d/3e Note
The Fox brothers reversed the order of these two types in 1917. In their original paper, 3d was applied to the ‘northern type’ and 3e to the ‘southern type’. The later designations are the ones that are now in general use.