Ancient Gold Coins

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Scottish & English Hammered and Milled Gold Coins:

WAu-7097: Henry V Hammered Gold Noble. 1413-22. Class C, London. King standing in his ship, mullet by sword arm, broken annulet on the side of the ship. 6.99g, 8h, i.m. Incurved Cross, Stewartby III, class Ca, Schneider 1, 232. Spink 1742. once lightly cleaned, now with a reddish tone. Uniformly sharp – a handsome bold VF. Ex Spink, ex Trajan collection. £7,795

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

WAu-7472: Elizabeth 1st Hammered Gold Half Pound of 10 Shillings. Third & Fourth issues, initial mark Rose over Cross Crosslet, 1456-66, Spink 2520. Ex Chris Comber collection – tickets. 4.89g, North 1994, Schneider 738, Brown & Comber G7A – Chris Comber, together with Walter Wilkinson and I.D. Brown were the leading experts on Elizabeth 1^st coinage, as well as having, between them, the most extensive and comprehensive collection in the world. Chris Comber’s ticket, in his own hand, states that this coin is extremely rare and at the time of the ticket, an unpublished variety. Wavy flan, which I have tried to illustrate in the tickets link above. When you consider than the much, much commoner Henry VII and Henry VIII hammered gold angels are now commonly £3,000+, this give you an insight into just how cheap this coin is in comparison. Excellent provenance and as rare as they come. £2,950 RESERVED (R.E.8-9-22)

WAu-7191: James II Gold Touch-Piece: Guaranteed to have been personally touched by King James II. An ancient practice – that of The Devine (the monarchy was seen very much as a physical, tangible extension of God) healing sufferers of Scrofula (Tuberculosis) – dating as far back as Henry II. All subsequent monarchs took some part in the ceremony (William & Mary refused because William was not of English royal decent) although Henry VIII was the most reluctant. Interestingly, although somewhat disinclined due to an unwillingness to mingle with the common man, it was Henry who initiated the design of St George and the dragon on subsequent Touching Ceremony gold coins. Although James’s brother, King Charles II, was an enthusiastic believer in the divine right of kings, James was actually more prolific in his touching, the number of sick being brought to him being as much as 14,364 in one year. Clearly James II had an extremely short-lived reign, and it must be noted that for the first months of touching, he actually used the left over Charles II gold pieces – some 1,905 of them. Again, the new touch-pieces were the work of John Roettier. It is estimated that 1% of the London population suffered during this time), so James was never short of participants. Interestingly, his ultimately toxic religious views seemed to have mattered very little to the average man in the street who was suffering from this extremely unpleasant disease – if James II could cure him, bring it on! James II personally attended these ceremonies and physically handed the touch-piece to each and every sufferer. Sufferers were invited and issued with an official Ticket-Pass to admit them to the ceremony. You gave your Ticket-Pass in at the door, entered the ceremony, got touched by the king, received your gold coin from the king himself and hopefully left as a cured individual. The Ticket-Token were collected and re-issued for the next Touching Ceremony. James II touched no less than 12,000 a year during his short reign. Touching Ceremonies were scheduled weekly, although never when the weather was warm. Under Charles II, in 1684 the size of the gold touch-pieces were reduced and this was maintained under James. The value of these pieces was some 5 shillings so very few would have survived the temptation of being spent as currency and thus quickly melted down upon numerous currency recalls, not least upon the death of monarchs. Very rare indeed; more so due to the shortness of King James’s reign. £1,850