1627 - 28 Charles I Tower Mint mm Castle over Negros Head Unite - Ex Willis Collection

Charles I (1625-49), Tower mint under the King (1625 - 42) Unite, group B, second crowned and armoured bust left, with ruff, rev. crowned garnished shield m.m. castle/castle over negro's head (S.2687; N.2148; Schneider -)

A neat and well struck example with bold details and an appealing old gold colour. Better than Very fine and of a good pedigree

Provenance

Ex Frederick Willis Collection, Glendinings 5th June 1991 , lot 141 

THE WILLIS COLLECTION 

PREFACE 

"Frederick Willis was born in 1889, and his wealth came from the family steel business, F. Willis & Co., at the Hall Street Works, West Bromwich. His interest in coin collecting must have started whilst he was still quite young, but he is remembered from the war years onwards, more from his dealing activities than his collecting. He would attend auctions at Glendining’s and always took the seat second along from the rostrum on the dealers’ table, next to Baldwin’s and opposite Spink’s. Records of his dealings are sparse, but one note book shows sales of £395/16/6 in 1942, increasing to £2,419/19/3 in 1953, whilst he seems to have spent £32/7/9 at Glendining’s in 1939, increasing to a bumper year in 1948, with total spending of £5,288/0/9.
He met his wife, Mollie, in about 1938, and they shared a mutual interest in antiques. During the war years they both drove ambulances for the ARP. In 1976 their home in the Four Oaks area of Birmingham was raided in a violent armed robbery. The collection of coins was kept in a purpose built strong room, with five safes arranged along one wall. The couple were badly treated, bound and gagged, and many of gold coins and specimen sets in the collection were stolen and never recovered—thus explaining the large gaps in the collection as it now stands. The story was widely reported in the national and local press, and a value of £250,000 was placed on the missing coins. The silver, for the most part, remained intact, and these are the coins now offered for sale. Fred Willis, who never fully recovered from the robbery, died in 1978. His widow, who survived him by twelve years, died shortly before Christmas i990:
The coins in this sale offer a glimpse of a generation of collecting that, sadly, is no longer with us. We hope that the catalogue will be remembered as a permanent record of an important collection, and to compliment this the coins are offered with special tickets stating the Willis provenance."