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. S.R. 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
WAu-9099:
Henry VIII with
WIFE Hammered Gold Crown of the Double Rose. Second coinage, 1526-44, circulated at five shillings,
22 ct gold. London (Tower) mint.
hK both sides,
initial mark Lis, S.R. 2274. Struck to commemorate the
king's marriage to Katherine of Aragon.
This was the king's first wife.
Katherine was originally betrothed to Henry's elder brother, Arthur,
when she was 3 years old. They married
when she was 16, but was widowed just a few months later. It took Henry another 7 years to marry
Katherine although to be fair, he was only 18 when he married Katherine! The Irish Harp coinage of Henry VIII celebrates
some wives but not Katherine of Aragon - she can only be found on this
English gold coinage. Quick quiz: which
wives, if any, are not represented on either the English or Irish
coins? Old
tickets here. A pleasing solid VF grade. £4,850
Provenance
ex
Royal Mint
ex
Spink
WAu-9441: Henry
VIII Tudor Hammered Gold Crown of the Double Rose. Third coinage of 1544-47
only, initial mark E over S, Southwark mint.
hENRIC 8 ROSA SINE
SPINA obverse - distinctive in that the word RUTILANS (translates to glowing
red) is removed from the legend of this particular issue. S.R.2308, N.1835. This Crown of the Double Rose denomination
was simply a crown, of expected value 5s.
Nothing unusual there, you might think.
The interesting thing lies in what it replaced - a new denomination
issued in 1526 called the Crown of the Rose, but valued at a less than
convenient sum of 4s.6d. In fairness, this
was due to a hike in the gold price, leading to gold draining away to Europe, very similar to what
happened to coinage under Henry VI some years prior. Regardless of the reason, the Crown of the
Rose was a remarkable failure. It was
withdrawn within a few months and replaced with the Crown of the Double
Rose. Lessons were learnt as this time
the coin was valued at the usual 5s.
However, as the mint would show to much greater effect in just a couple
of decades, it was master of deception - the public and traders alike thought
they were getting a 5s coin, and indeed they were, but what they didn't know
was that for the very first time, the gold content was reduced to 22ct -
previously it had always been 23ct. Thus
the public were happy, the books balanced at the mint, a 22ct gold standard
precedent was set for centuries to come ... and the seed was set for what was
to come in 1544 in terms of the famous Henry VIII coin debasement! Southwark mint, along with a second mint at
the Tower and then further mints at Dublin, Durham House (in the Strand),
Bristol, York and Canterbury were opened purely to get the debased coinage out
into circulation. Gold was less debased
than silver but it still suffered, going as low as 20ct in 1546. There was a further benefit to these mints
being opened - it allowed the government the opportunity to finally NOT renew
the Episcopal mints; mints which had been openly defrauding the country for
years. It was deemed right and proper
that only the state could do that!
£3,950
Hammered Silver
Groats
1st Issue:
WTH-8137:
Henry VIII
Hammered Silver Early Groat. First
coinage of 1509-26, initial mark Portcullis, portrait of his father, Henry
VII. London mint, S.R. 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
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. London (Tower) mint.
The crown is within the inner circle and indeed does not reach it - the
much rarer Laker Bust B. S.R. 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 S.R.
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 S.R. at least, is the very definition of
incredulity. £945
Provenance:
ex Tim
Owen
WTH-7280:
Henry VIII
Hammered Silver Groat. Second coinage, 1526-44, Laker bust D, S.R.
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, S.R. 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,
S.R. 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. £425
Provenance:
ex
H.M. Lingford collection
Posthumous Issue
WTH-7036: Henry VIII (struck under
Edward VI) Hammered Silver Groat.
Posthumous issue, im E, bust 6. S.R. 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.
S.R. 2343.
Ex Rymer collection, ex
Spink. £335
WTH-7534:
Henry VIII
Hammered Silver Tudor Halfgroat. Profile issue, second coinage, S.R. 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. S.R. 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. S.R.
2354. Full flan (quite
a rare feature on sovereign pennies) and ex Lingford
collection with his original ticket.
£250
2nd Issue:
Halfpennies
WTH-7536:
Henry VIII
Hammered Silver Tudor Halfpenny. Second coinage, S.R. 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. S.R. 2358. High grade and ex Lingford collection with his original ticket. £280
WTH-9385: Choice Henry VIII Hammered
Silver Halfpenny. Second
coinage, 1526-44, initial mark Arrow, London mint, S.R.2356. If we take the
earliest possible date for this coin of 1526, we find Henry still married to
his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, after an impressive 24 year. Jump to the last date, 1544, and we find that
Henry had been extraordinarily active on the marriage front, being on his sixth
and final attempt at matrimony, Catherine Parr.
The coin is exceptionally well centred, has a clear initial mark, good
edges, nicely toned and is high grade. Choice. £285
Other
WJC-9348: (16) Henry VIII : 1616-38
Silver Simon de Passe Token. Machine-pressed silver tokens or counters
depicting the monarchs of England, issued in sets (thought to be thirty six),
composed either of pieces of different monarchs or repetitions of the same
type. Thought to be
primarily used as markers or counters "for reckoning and for play". The dies were very cleverly sunk to give the
impression of a hand-engraved silver token.
Some of these counters were executed early in the 1616-38 period by
Nicholas Hilliard, jeweller; goldsmith and engraver to Elizabeth 1st and
afterwards to James 1st. In 1617,
Hilliard received a patent granting him the monopoly for twelve years of all
the engraved portraits of the King and the Royal Family. He subsequently sold licences to other
engravers to execute these counters, one of which was to Simon de Passe and his brother, both of whom excelled in the art of
engraving. This sub-licence to the de Passe brothers was issued late in the reign of James 1st. Collectively, these tokens are all termed De Passe tokens for convenience. £295
Provenance:
From a collection put together over a
great many years; dispersed by Spink.
