Obverse:

HENRIC DI GRA REX ANGLIE Z FRANC. Crowned facing bust in tressure of arches, lis by neck.

Reverse:

POSVI DEVM ADIVTORE MEVM, CIVITAS EBORACI. Long cross pattée dividing the legend, with three pellets in each angle. Extra annulets two quarters.

A few scratches and small edge flaw otherwise about very fine and very rare. Lesson dies O1/R3 with only two examples of this pairing noted.

The Henry VI York issue was a short-lived coinage, produced between 1423 and 1424. The mint within York Castle was reopened and its buildings reconstructed, primarily to recoin underweight and deficient gold coins circulating in northern England. Although the mint's principal activity was the striking of gold, silver coinage was also produced, but contributing only a small proportion of the mint's recorded profits.

At the time of Lessen’s publication in the British Numismatic Journal, only 13 York groats were known, struck from three obverse and seven reverse dies. Of these 13 examples, six are in institutional collections, including the British Museum and the Ashmolean Museum. Since this publication, a further example was discovered near Teignbridge, Devon, in January 2008, followed by the present example, discovered in 2016.

Found St. Minver Highlands, Cornwall, 20 March 2016. Recorded with the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme, number CORN-D80877.

See:

Lessen, M., (1993) ‘York Annulet Silver Coins of Henry VI’. British Numismatic Journal, Volume 63, p. 59-64.

Allen, M., (1995) ‘Documentary Evidence for the Henry VI Annulet Coinage of York’. British Numismatic Journal, Volume 65, p. 120-134.