A COLLECTION of silver coins struck in York during the English Civil War failed to fetch the expected £30,000 at auction.

A private Welsh collector is selling 37 rare coins issued in 1643 and 1644 featuring the word “Ebor” and a lion, both denoting York as the city of origin.

However, in auction at Lockdales of Martlesham, near Ipswich, Suffolk, only six of the coins sold, going for a total of £3,605.

The York mint of Charles I was assembled as Royalist forces fought for control of the north in the mid-1640s.

York became a key city to the king after he was forced to leave London in 1642.

The coins to sell included two silver halfcrowns, a silver shilling and three silver threepences.