England, Henry III AR Penny (Long Cross coinage class 2b2, SCBC 1361a)

ENGLAND, King Henry III (1216-1272) 
AR Penny, Long Cross coinage class 2b2 (18.03mm, 1.41g, 8h)
Struck 1248-50. Canterbury mint
Obverse: HENRICVS REX TERCI, crowned head of King Henry III facing
Reverse: WIL-LEM ON C-ANT around voided long cross with central pellet, triple pellets in quarters
References: North 985/2; SCBC 1361a

Lightly toned. Decently struck for the issue, with full legends and a good portrait.

Ex CNG Triton XXVIII, lot 6590. Ex York Coins, 2010. From the Sidney W. & Kenneth W. Harl Collection. 

Henry III, son of King John Lackland, inherited the throne upon his father’s death in 1216 at the age of nine. At this time England was in the middle of the First Baron’s War, and it was not until 1234 that Henry was able to fully assert his own rule. He was a pious and cultured man, but proved less than satisfactory as a political ruler. His attempt to retake the continental lands lost by his father ended in disaster, and he alienated the barons over various matters, which ultimately resulted in the Second Baron’s War. In the course of this conflict Henry was captured. He was allowed to continue his reign, but essentially only as a figurehead for the rebel barons. Some years later, in 1272, King Henry III died, and was succeeded by his son Edward I.

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Collection : World coins - medieval to present