 Undated St. Patrick's Farthing. Silver. Choice Extremely Fine, with claims to a higher grade. 115.5 gns. No nimbus. FLOREAT :REX obverse. QVIESCAT PLEBS reverse. A wonderful and simply lovely piece and the finest seen by the cataloguer, nicer than the best of Norweb's four. The obverse and reverse are toned in deep coin silver gray. There are traces of iridescent blue and very pale champagne toning on each. The center of the obverse is sharp, King David's hand is clear and all of the harp strings are individually outlined. The letters in the encircling legend are bold and the crown above actually shows some inner detail. There is a nearly full border of denticles on this side, those on the lower right being off the flan. The center of the reverse is not quite as sharp, with some softness on St. Patrick's figure. The cathedral to his right and the snakes and scorpions to his left are bold, the encircling legend is complete save for a very softly struck 'L' and there is nearly a full border of denticles around, those at the lower left being slightly off flan. The fields are actually bright and somewhat reflective, not quite semi-prooflike but of a quality higher than seen on any other specimen in the cataloguer's experience. There is a small nick just below the harp on the obverse and a few other lighter marks elsewhere but none of these are really important compared to the quality of the piece.
Ex New Netherlands Coin Company, date unrecorded.
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