/';-=09

)(8*=-0/']

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BEULAH

HILL

TREASURE

TROVE

1953

Edward I-III, 138 Coins, c. 1364

On 13 April 1953, 14 gold and 124 silver coins of the fourteenth
centurywere discoveredin virginclay a fewinches below the surface
of the garden at 86 The Woodlands, Beulah Hill, Upper Norwood,
Surrey. The finderpromptlyreported her discovery to the British
Museum, and there is every reason to believe that the 138 coins
recovered representthe whole hoard. A Coroner's inquest held at
Croydonon 2 May resultedin the findbeing declared treasuretrove,
and the coins were again submittedto the BritishMuseum forfurther
examination.1 A small number (marked with an asterisk in the
accompanying list) were retained by the British Museum and the
remainderwere acquired by the London Museum. The finderwas
rewardedwith the full market value of the hoard.
Very few English findscan be dated to the decade 1360-70, and
that fromBeulah Hill seems the firstto be reportedin any detail.2
Special importanceattaches to the fact that it is a mixed gold and
silver hoard, one of the firstto reflectchanges in the national currencyconsequent on Edward Ill's introductionof the gold noble and
silver groat. The latter coin had been put into circulation only in
1351, yet the Beulah Hill findof 1364 contains no fewerthan 94, all
of them circulated. It would seem that the new denominationwas
meetingadequately a very real need. Another featureof the hoard
is that, with the exception of two battered pennies of Edward I, all
the coins were struck within a period of a dozen years. The great
recoinage of 1351 seems effectivelyto have driven fromcirculation
theheaviercoinsoftheearlierpart ofthe century. Such a phenomenon
suggeststhat the new coinage was on an ample scale.
No less significantis the absence of lusshebournes- the only
"
foreigner"in the find is a Scots groat of good weight. This may
seem to bear out Brooke's contentionthat it had been a faultyadjustment of the values of gold and silver that had precipitatedthe 1351
1 The writer
whogaveup a wholeafterto Mr.E. J. Winstanley
is grateful
list.
withhimthecoinsagainsthispreliminary
noonto checking
through
2 Thewriter
Museum
oftheAshmolean
is grateful
to Mr.J.D. A. Thompson
forplacingat hisdisposaltherelevantpagesofhis forthcoming
bibliography
ofEnglishcoinhoards.

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116

R. H. M. DOLLE Y

recoinage. Certainlythe proportionsof the differentdenominations

suggestthat a limitedmasteryof bimetallictheoryand practice had
at last been achieved.3 Another cause of complaint was clipping of
the coinage, and in this context the followingfiguresmay be of
interest. The total face value of the hoard was 3. 155. 10d., 2 in
gold and the balance in silver.4 Consequently the nominal weight
should have been as follows:
Gold1 oz., 10 dwt.
Silver1 lb.,4 oz., 2 dwt.,12 grains.
The actual weightwas (to the nearest grain):
Gold1 oz., 9 dwt.,13 grains.
Silver1 lb.,3 oz., 12 dwt.,9 grains.
Thus, the deficiencyamounted in the case of gold to no more than
11 grains, and in the case of silver to 10 dwt., 3 grains. The ratio of
gold to silverwas as 12 : 1, and the total deficiencyin the coinage can
be expressed as Is . 9d. in 3. 15s. 10d., or ratherless than 6d. in the
pound. When we rememberthat the gold used was 23 ct., 3| gr.
fine,and the silver 11 oz., 2 dwt., much of the discrepancycan fairly
be attributed to wear and tear in circulation. In this connexion it
should be remarkedthat scarcely one of the Beulah Hill silver coins
approaches fleurde coin.
Nevertheless,the silver generally has a clipped appearance, and
it is hard to avoid the conclusion that clippers had been at work.
Very fewcoins are withina grain of theirtrue weight,and the following frequency tables for the London groats and half-groatsseem
suggestive:
LONDONGROATS
D
E
F
C
G
1351/21352131354/5 1356 1356-61
Lessthan66grains.
.
.
.2
..
..
..
..
2
66-66-9
..
1
2
1
..
4
67-67-9
2
..
..
..
..
2
68-68-9
2
..
1
1
..
4
69-69-9
1
6
4
1
1
13
70-70-9
11
1
1
8
15
36
71-71*9
8
1
8
3
20
ormore ....
72 grains
..
1
1
1
6
3
33

19

27

87

3 Thisis notto say thatthecoinsin thehoardare in thesame

proportion
as emissions
fromtheMint.In theory
a sumofgoldworth2shouldhavebeen
madeup of2 nobles,6 half-nobles,
and 2 quarter-nobles.
4 The present-day
purchasing
powerofthissumis hardto estimatebut is
perhapsbetweenthreeand fourhundredpoundssterling.

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BETJLAHHILL TREASURE TROVE 1953

117

Thus, the "C" groats are on average 3-7 per cent, light, the "D"
groats 2-3 per cent., the "E" groats 2-9 per cent., the "F" groats
3 per cent., and the "G" groats only 1-5 per cent.
LONDONHALF-GROATS
F
D
E
G
C
1351/21352/31354/5 1356 1356-611361-31363-9
Lessthan33grains ...
1
33-33-4
.
..
..
1
33-5-33-9
.
.2
34-34-4 .
.
2
.4
..
..
.
..
34-5-34-9
.
.2
1
1
2
35-35-4 .
.
.1
..
..
1
..
2
..
1
...
35-5-35-9
..
..
..
..
36grains
ormore .
..
1
1
4
2
2
1
12
2

1
3
6
4
3
4
2
23

Obviously there are not sufficientcoins for the columns to be percentagedwithany profit,but generallythis second table bears out the
picturepresentedby the first. The older coins are generallylighter.
Many more hoards will have to be examined beforewe can attempt
a finalestimate,but the presentwriteris not convincedthat clipping
was not practised in the mint quite openly in order to correctoverweight. This is not to deny that it was an objectionable practice
facilitatinglater depredations,but in the throesofrecoinageprinciple
is oftensacrificedto expediency. Against this it may be argued that
both the Treaty half-groatsare clipped and under-weight,but we do
not know to what extentnew batches of coin were picked over immediately afterleaving the mints.5 If, too, illegal clippingwas rife,it is
strange that the malefactorsshould have spared the noble and its
divisions. Mint practice, on the other hand, mightwell have winked
at irregularitiesin the silver that no press of business could have
affordedto tolerate in the gold.
To the numismatistas such the main interestof the hoard must be
the E/D mule of the London groat. The D/E mule has long been
known,and therewas no reason to suppose that its brotherwould not
turn up in time. The Scots groat is a die-duplicate of one fromthe
Montrave hoard now in the British Museum which also is of good
weight. Generallythe proportionof coins in each class accords well
5 Thereis somereasonforbelieving
thattheearliercheckon theweightof
individualpieceshad beenabandonedin thecase ofsilver.Thisbeingso, it
ifthenewcoinwas notpickedover. It is perhapssignifiwouldbe surprising
cantthattheheaviesthalf-groathas a thoroughly
clippedappearance.

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118

R. H. M. DOLLEY

with prevailingimpressionsconcerningtheirrelative rarity,but it is

a littledisturbingto compare the followingchronologicaltable of the
hoard with contemporaryfiguresof coinage published by Crump and
Hughes in the NumismaticChroniclefor 1913.
Before
13511351 1351/21352/31354/513561356-611361-31363-9
Gold
..
2
..
..
1
Noble
3
1
1
Half-noble
..
..
..
..
2
....
2
6
10
Quarter-noble
Silver
24
..
..
4
27
33
5
Groat
93
..
2
4
2
24
12
3
1
Half-groat
..
2
..
..
1
1
..
6
.2..
Penny.
2
46
7
5
2 ..
30
9 137
36
AlsooneScotsgroatof1358-66.
Naturally allowance has to be made for the fact that this table
includes a fewcoins not ofthe London mint,and it must also be borne
in mind that in neither case are the figureskeyed to the modern
calendar year, and that the two medieval years are reckoned quite
differently.Even so, it is a little disturbingto findthe year 1351/2
accounting for a third of the coins in the find when silver coinage
between September 1351 and September 1352 was only slightly
above the annual average forthe period 1351-65.
In the followinglist of the find,full use has been made of L. A.
Lawrence's masterpiece which first appeared in these pages, his
Coinage of Edward III from1351, and each coin has been described
as nearly as possible by referenceto the dies Usted therein. It must
be emphasized, however,that the fact that two coins have the same
Lawrence number does not necessarily mean that they are dieduplicates. It will be noticed, too, that many coins differfrom
specimensrecordedby Lawrence only by the absence or presence of
a bar or serifin a particularletter. In a fewcases this may be because
Lawrence had access to an example in an inferiorstate ofpreservation
but generallythe presentwriteris inclinedto postulate a die-variety.
coins in the findwithindisputablenewreadingsfor
There are sufficient
us to be certainthat as yet we have by no means a completepicture
of Edward Ill's new coinage, and it is a measure of Lawrence's
achievement that his conclusions should be strengthenedand not
weakened by a discoverysuch as that at Beulah Hill.

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119

BETJLAHHILL TREASURE TROVE 1953

All Coins of London Mint unless OtherwiseStated
NOBLES
Coinage of 1351-61
(1) Class E as L. AG-64
(2) Class Gd as L. BG-30
(3) ? muleGa/gd? as L. AW-31 (Obverseworn)
HALF-NOBLE

Coinage of 1363-9
(4) Class a as L. 1
Coinage of 1351-61
(5) Class Gfas L. 2
(6) Class Gg as L. 7

117-8
119-4
115-2

59-5
QUARTER-NOBLES

Coinage of 1361-3
(7) Class a as L. 2
(8) Class a as L. 3
Coinage of 1363-9
(9, 10) Class a as L. 1
(11, 12) Class a as L. 6
(13) Sub-muleb as L. 1
(14) Sub-muleb as L. 2

29-8
29-4
29-5
29-8
29-4,29-8
29-8,29-9
29-8
29-8

GROATS
Coinage of 1351-61
71-4
(15) Mule B/Cas L. 5
71-1
L.
but
and
as
19
hVhh
ilVW
Mules
66-6*,
(16, 17)
B/C
1
A
in
barred
L.
but
59-6
as
TAS
C
Class
71-7,
71-7,
70-8,
(18-21)
70-4
(22) Class C as nos. 18-21 but lVB
68-4
and barredA in TAS
(23) Class C as L. 5 but 1J throughout
68-8
(24) Class C as L. 13
70-5
(25) Class C as no. 24 but hVBo
A
in
24
but
unbarred
72-0
as
TAS
no.
C
Class
(26)
69-4
(27) Class C as L. 19 but unbrokenM
27
70-8*
L.
but
DM-fcVB
as
C
Class
(28)
outerlegends 61-9,70-8
(29-34) Class C as L. 27 but ^ throughout
71-1,67-9,71-3,71-0
70-0,70-3
(35, 36) Class C as nos. 29-34 but 3Jand ends }SJ
and 7J
69-3
(37) Class C as nos. 29-34 but 7,
70-2
(38) Class C as L. 29
but
and
as
L.
outer
Bo
Class
C
(39)
31/27
7Jthroughout
71*2
legends

but
69'9
as
B
C
L.
33
Class
(40)

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120

R. H. M. DOLLEY

outerlegends
70-1
(41) Class C as no. 40 but 7Jthroughout
(42, 43) Class C as L. 34 but and barredA in TAS
67-0,69-0
70*5
(44) Class C as L. 35
(45, 46) Class C- clippedbut top archesunfleured
69-4,69-3
70*0
(47) Class C- clippedbut all archesfleured
69-7
(48) Mule D/C as L. 4 but 6V
(49) Class D GDW7SRDD0 RGX7tII0lFlR7TII DhVB
P0SVI!D6VffMIDIVT0R|GMlGV
728
KOHiDOn!aiVXT7tS
D
Class
GDW7TRD-D-0-RGX7raeL-Z*HR7raa-D''ft
(50)
P0SVI-D6Vl-7|DIVT0R|60MH6V
68 9
CIVI|T7TSUOHDOH
IIGDiVB
(51) Class D GDW7RDD0'REX"7tII0l
POSVI|DGVitt-7|DIVTOR|6
704
lOHDOH|GIVl|T7TS
Mule
GDW7TRD
D0-RGX-7II
Ll-FR7tIia-DftVB
(52)
E/D
POSVI|D-VK7T1DIVTOR|G5KGV
687*
LOn|DOII|aiVI|T7tS
66-0
(53) Class E as L. 6
72-0
(54) Class E as L. 17/18
70-7
(55) Class E as L. 22 but W
(56-60) Class E as L. 25- on nos. 59 and 60 thereis a progressivedie-flawfromleftcurlto leftcheek
71-0,71-5,70*7,70-2*,70-8*
69-4
(61) Class E as L. 25/26
(62, 63) Class E as L. 26
69-5,70-1
(64) Class E ? as L. 28
69*9
(65) Class E as L. 46/43
66*5
(66) Class E as L. 46
70-4
(67) Class E ? as L. 50
69-4
(68) Class E as L. 58/59
70-2
(69) Class E as L. 64
70-0
(70) Class E as L. 71
71-1
(71) Class F as L. 10/2but GIVI|DOII|LOH|T7S
71-8*
(72) Class F as L. 10/5
70-9
(73) Class F as L. 17 but last six wordsofobverseand whole
ofreverselegendunstopped
66-9
Class
F as L. 22/21
(74)
69-6
(75) Mule F/Gas L. 2 but last threewordsof obverselegend
70-5
unstopped
(76) Mule F/G as L. 8
70-8
(77, 78) Class Ga as L. 1-4
70-6,70*1
(79) Class Ga as L. 7
7q.q
(80-83) Class Ga as L. 14
70-3,70-9,71-9,71-0
(84) Class Ga as L. 29
71-9
(85) Class Ga as L. 37
72-0

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BETJLAHHILL TREASURE TROVE 1953

(86) Class Ga- obversewornbut reversereads:
POSVI|DGV7t|
ltt-HGV
(87) Mule Gb/Gaas L. 2/34
(88) Class Gb as L. 4
(89) Class Gb as L. 19 but hV*B and ittflGGV
(90) Class Gb as L. 21
(91) Class Gc as L. 2
(92) Class Gc as L. 15 but stop afterREX
(93) Mule Gb/Gdas L. 1/2
(94) Mule Gb/Gdas L. 3
(95) Class Gd as L. 1/2but EIV in firstquarter
(96) Mule Ge/Gdas L. 1 but omitsfleuron leftshoulder
(97) Class Ge as L. 4
(98) Class Ge as L. 5/4
(99) Mule Gf/Ggas L. 1/2
(100) Class Gg as L. 6 but D**6
(101) Class Gg as L. 5-6/7
Royal Mint of York
(102) Class D as L. 1
(103) Mule E/D as L. 2
(104, 105) Class E as L. 8
(106) Class E as L. 12 (ftalteredfromII)
(107) Class E as L. 21

121
711
72-1
7M
70-0
70-2
70*9
70*1
70-7
71-7
72*1
70-6
69-8
70-9
71*1
70-8*
71-0
70*9
70-2
71-6,710
69-8*
71-8

HALF-GROATS
Coinage of 1351-61
35-9
(108) Class Ca as L. 1 but reads IlHR7tM
as
L.
Ca
?
but
doublestruck
Class
3
34-1
(109)
as
L.
Class
Cb
35-1
(110)
6/9
as
L.
1
Class
Cc
34-0
(111)
36-0
(112) Class Cc as L. 1 but 7J
35-5
(113) Class Cc as L. 5
33-8*
(114) Class Cc as L. 5 but RG
(115) Class Cd- obverse illegible but ends HR7TMC-and
reverseas L. 6b
34-4
34-8,34-6,34-1
(116-18) Class Cd as L. 9 but DGV and TS
33-9
(119) Class Cd- inscription
quite uncertain
as
Class
Cd
L.
but
10
normal
on
reverse
34-2,34-0
(120-21)
stopping
35-6
(122) Mule D/E as L. 2
34.7
(123) Class E as L. 8/5
33 0
(124) Class F as L. 5
33-9
(125) Class Ga as L. 4 but DIVT
37-1*
(126) Class Ga as L. 8/20
35-6
(127) Class Ga as L. 18
34-8
(128) Class Ga as L. 21 but VIDGV and ORG*-

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122

BEULAH HILL TREASURE TROVE 1953

Royal Mint of York

(129) Class E as L. 6
Coinage of 1363-9
(130) Class I as L. 1-12
(131) Class II as L. 30
PENCE
Edward I (1272-1307)
(132) Brooke,Class X (1302-7)
Episcopal Mint of Durham
(133) Brooke,Class IV (1282-3) withinitialcrossmoline

33-7
35-4
35 1

16-5
14-1

Edward III (1327-77)

Coinage of 1351-61
Episcopal Mint of Durham
(134) Class C as L. 1
(135) Class E - probablyas L. 2
(136) Class Gc as L. 1

17-1
15-2
16-9

Royal Mint of York

(137) Class E as L. 4

16-8

David II of Scotand
(138) Edinburghgroatofthe 1358-66coinageas Burns,fig.250 72-2
R. H. M. Dolley

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