Obverse:

H[E]NRICVS REX. Facing crowned bust holding sceptre.

Reverse:

HA[LL]I ON RVLA. Voided short cross with quatrefoil in each angle.

A little weak in part otherwise good fine, toned and rare. Brand noted just 21 examples of Class 1 in both private and institutional collections.

Rhuddlan emerged as an important royal and military centre in north Wales following the campaigns of Henry II and it functioned as a frontier mint, within a sensitive region. Between c.1180 and 1215 it was not continuously under direct English Crown control, frequently passing into the hands of the Princes of Gwynedd, as power in north Wales shifted. As Besly noted, between the year 1180 and 1247 Rhuddlan was certainly in English hands for only about eight years, six of them at the very end of that period.

Because much of the coinage was therefore struck while the mint lay under Welsh control, some numismatists have suggested that these issues may reflect elements of local authority rather than exclusive direction from the English Crown, although this interpretation remains suggestive rather than conclusively documented.

The earliest Rhuddlan pieces are those of this moneyer, Halli. They represent a fairly close imitation of the regular English coinage of Class 1b and although the dies were clearly cut by a different and less accomplished hand, they nevertheless display a degree of technical competence and artistic quality. Brand suggested that it was far more likely that their manufacture was undertaken by a higher skilled goldsmith rather than a local blacksmith. Although Rhuddlan remained operational through the reigns of Henry II, Richard I and John, Brand confidently dates the striking of Class 1 to c.1180 to 1190, the majority falling within the reign of Henry II.

From the J. C. Rowell Collection [bt Sovereign Rarities, 17 February 2021 - £300]

Ex M. Lessen Collection, DNW Auction, 3 Jul 2019 - Lot 512

[Lessen’s ticket notes, Seaby Coin and Medal Bulletin, August 1973 - H3681, although this is a different coin.]

For further reading see:

J. D. Brand, (1965). ‘The Short Cross coins of Rhuddlan’, British Numismatic Journal, Volume 34, p. 90-97.

E. Besly, (1995). ‘Short Cross and other medieval coins from Llanfaes, Anglesey’, British Numismatic Journal, Volume 65, p. 46-82.