The North Yorkshire Moors Collection of British Coins & Tokens formed by Marvin Lessen

Foreword

This important collection of British coins, spanning the Iron Age, Roman, medieval and early modern periods, with select later additions, was begun in 1962 when its creator, Marvin Lessen, first moved to Scarborough to work at the early warning radar site at RAF Fylingdales.


PREFACE TO PART III
This third sale of coins from the Lessen collection covers the English period from Henry VII to modern times, as well as Scottish, Irish and Anglo-Gallic coins. The auction finishes with a small group of Yorkshire tokens.

In endeavouring to collect silver coins of the main coinages and types within each reign, Mr Lessen concentrated on groats and, for the later period, shillings. Collectors of these denominations in particular will find much of interest within these pages. Worthy of special mention are examples of the earliest English coinrelated piece to bear a date of any kind (Lot 891) and, in the same idiom, an Edward VI pattern shilling, the first English coin to carry a date in Roman numerals (Lot 858). With relatively few exceptions, this portion of the...