Henry VIII (1509 - 1547) Read about Henry VIII

 

 

Hammered Gold

 

WAu-7311:  Henry VIII Hammered Gold Crown of the Double Rose.  Third coinage, initial mark none / WS monogram, 1544-47, Bristol mint.  Spink 2310.  Ex Spink (various tickets here).  Slightly wavy flan with minor edge splits.  A very popular coin and invariably a minimum of £5K in today’s market.  This one priced very competitively at £4,295

 

 

 

Hammered Silver

 

Groats

 

1st Issue:

 

WTH-7080:  Henry VIII Profile Right Issue Hammered Silver Groat.  First coinage, initial mark Portcullis, 1509-26.  Portrait of Henry VII, Spink 2316 being the first ever groat struck under Henry VIII.  Ex Spink.  £465

 

WTH-8137:  Henry VIII Hammered Silver Early Groat.  First coinage of 1509-26, initial mark Portcullis, portrait of his father, Henry VII.  London mint, Spink 2316, a single issue unless you count the Tournai groat, one of which find its way onto this site in the next few weeks.  The initial photograph is atrocious, giving the coin a leaden appearance that is completely unjustified.  See here for a more representative camera-phone image, although even that isn't great.  Some coins just don't like having their picture taken!  £525 

 

WTH-8143:  Exceptional Henry VIII Hammered Silver First Coinage Groat.  Profile right of the King's father, Henry VII, initial mark Crowned T - the excessively rare Tournai mint. Spink 2317.  Henry VIII rode victoriously into the city of Tournai in Western Belgium on September 25th, 1513, aged just 22, ten days after his troops had first invested the city.  The sense of triumph was somewhat misplaced as in truth, the city was protected by volunteers with no training and antiquated cannon that was much more a danger to the user than the intended victim.  Coinage was minted from Tournai, in miniscule numbers compared with back home in London, with a very symbolic initial mark T with an English crown over it.  Spink dates the entire issue to 1513.  Interestingly, the dies were thought to have been shipped back to London where the initial mark was overstruck with a portcullis, potentially meaning that your relatively common first coinage portcullis groat was struck from the famous Tournai dies!  It is rare indeed to find a Tournai groat but to find one in this grade and, most importantly, with both initial marks as clear as day, is extremely rare.  Old tickets here.  A very rare offering indeed.  £3,350

Provenance:

Ex Spink, September 1998 (£1,950) - that's x26 years ago!

Ex Baldwins

Ex James P. Rosen collection

 

 

 

2nd Issue:

 

WTH-7976:  Henry VIII Hammered Silver Tudor Groat - Laker Bust B.  Second coinage, initial mark Rose (Henry's symbol; the Mary Rose was Henry VIII's flagship), 1526-44.  The crown is within the inner circle and indeed does not reach it - the much rarer Laker Bust B.  Spink 2337D.  I have had dozens and dozens of Henry VIII Later Bust D coins over the years and very few, if any, of the other types.  As such, because I'd had no reason to ever look it up, I hadn't quite appreciated how ridiculous the Spink pricing was / is / will no doubt continue to be.  How Laker Bust B can be virtually on a par with Laker Bust D in terms of pricing, according to Spink at least, is the very definition of incredulity.  Ex Tim Owen.  £945

 

WTH-7280:  Henry VIII Hammered Silver Groat.  Second coinage, 1526-44, Laker bust D, Spink 2337E.  London (Tower) mint.  Immediately after this issue in 1544, overspending by Henry VIII to pay for his lavish lifestyle and to fund foreign wars with France and Scotland finally took their toll on the economy and The Great Debasement (1544–1551), a currency debasement policy, was introduced.  Consequently, coinage within that period was hardly recognisable as silver – in fact this is where the term, “Old Copper Nose” originated.  Sold with a detailed information slip (grades this coin as nVF) and a collector’s cabinet ticket.  £295

 

WTH-7753:  Henry VIII Hammered Silver Tudor Groat.  Second coinage, London mint.  Initial mark Lis, Laker bust D, Spink 2337E.  A very nice example.  £495

 

WTH-7890:  Henry VIII Hammered Silver Groat with Excellent Provenance.  Second coinage, London mint.  1526-44.  Laker bust D, initial mark Lis, Spink 2237E.  What elevates this coin is the provenance, which goes all the way back to those very early post WW2 years - May 1948 to be precise.  Ex H.M. Lingford collection.  £425

 

 

 

Posthumous Issue

 

WTH-6816:  Edward VI (in the name of Henry VIII) DURHAM HOUSE Hammered Silver Groat.  Posthumous issue, im Bow, bust 6.  Spink 2405.  A very hard Durham mint issue that on the rare occasions it does turn up is always problematic.  Overspending by Henry VIII to pay for his lavish lifestyle and to fund foreign wars with France and Scotland finally took their toll on the economy and The Great Debasement (1544–1551), a currency debasement policy, was introduced.  Consequently, coinage within that period was hardly recognisable as silver – in fact this is where the term, “Old Copper Nose” originated.  £219

 

WTH-5954:  Henry VIII Hammered Silver Bristol Groat.  Posthumous issue struck under Edward VI, 1547-51 from the rarer Bristol mint (CIVITAS BRISTOLIE).  Initial mark TC (Under Treasurer Thomas Chamberlain) which is far and above the rarest of the two Bristol variations – W.S. coins (Under Treasurer William Sharrington) were part of the third coinage and the posthumous coinage whilst Thomas Chamberlain coins were just the tail end of the posthumous period.  Those of you familiar with Bristol groats will be aware that around 19 out of 20 such groats will be the WS initial mark.  Overspending by Henry VIII to pay for his lavish lifestyle and to fund foreign wars with France and Scotland finally took their toll on the economy and The Great Debasement (1544–1551), a currency debasement policy, was introduced.  Consequently, coinage within that period was hardly recognisable as silver – in fact this is where the term, “Old Copper Nose” originated.  £385

 

WTH-7036:  Henry VIII (struck under Edward VI) Hammered Silver Groat.  Posthumous issue, im E, bust 6.  Spink 2404.  Southwark mint.  Overspending by Henry VIII to pay for his lavish lifestyle and to fund foreign wars with France and Scotland finally took their toll on the economy and The Great Debasement (1544–1551), a currency debasement policy, was introduced.  Consequently, coinage within that period was hardly recognisable as silver – in fact this is where the term, “Old Copper Nose” originated.  £255

 

WTH-7270:  Henry VIII (Edward VI) Hammered Billon Silver Groat.  Posthumous coinage of 1547-51.  Initial mark Grapple (reverse only), Tower mint, bust 6.  Ex R. Carlyon-Britton.  Superb provenance.  Overspending by Henry VIII to pay for his lavish lifestyle and to fund foreign wars with France and Scotland finally took their toll on the economy and The Great Debasement (1544–1551), a currency debasement policy, was introduced.  Consequently, coinage within that period was hardly recognisable as silver – in fact this is where the term, “Old Copper Nose” originated.  £285

 

 

 

Halfgroats

 

2nd Issue:

 

WTH-7136:  Henry VIII Hammered Silver Tudor Halfgroat.  Second coinage, 1526-44.  Episcopal issue – struck under Archbishop Warham of Canterbury.  Spink 2343.  Ex Rymer collection, ex Spink.  £335

 

WTH-7534:  Henry VIII Hammered Silver Tudor Halfgroat.  Profile issue, second coinage, Spink 2343.  Canterbury mint, initial mark Cross Patonce / Uncertain Mark.  Struck under Archbishop Warham.  £265

 

 

 

Pennies

 

2nd Issue:

 

WTH-7331:  Henry VIII Hammered Silver Sovereign Penny.  Second issue, initial mark Star.  An Episcopal issue struck under Bishop Tunstall of Durham, 1530-44.  Spink 2354.  Well centred, full flan, rare thus.  £215

 

WTH-7786:  Henry VIII Hammered Silver Tudor SOVEREIGN Penny.  Second coinage, Episcopal mint – Bishop Tunstall at Durham.  1530-44.  Spink 2354.  Full flan (quite a rare feature on sovereign pennies) and ex Lingford collection with his original ticket.  £250

 

 

3rd Issue:

 

 

 

Halfpennies

 

1st Issue:

 

WTH-6645:  Henry VIII Hammered Silver Half Penny.  Initial mark Portcullis, 1st issue coin struck at London.  Spink 2334.  Nice grade.  £95

 

 

2nd Issue:

 

WTH-7536:  Henry VIII Hammered Silver Tudor Halfpenny.  Second coinage, Spink 2356.  London mint, initial mark Lis.  About “as struck” and with the rare to see initial mark.  Choice.  £175

 

WTH-7784:  Henry VIII Hammered Silver Tudor Halfpenny.  Second coinage, 1526-44, Canterbury Episcopal mint struck under Archbishop Thomas Cranmer.  Spink 2358.  High grade and ex Lingford collection with his original ticket.  £280