Watch List notes:

Henry VIII, third coinage, sovereign, Southwark, mm. S (1544-1547), king enthroned facing, holding orb and sceptre, rose below, birds on pillars of throne, rev. crowned shield of arms with lion and griffin supporters, HR below, small module, wt.12.4gms. (S.2291; N.1825 [VR]; Schneider 611), extremely fine, virtually as struck, with wonderful detail in Henry's face and his flowing robe, legends generally bold with slight doubling mainly on obverse, on a superior flan without cracks, surfaces choice, very rare and especially so in this excellent state of preservation *ex Lockett, 1956, lot 1753 Struck in 20 ct. gold, this wonderfully historic coin was created shortly after Henry's minters began debasement of English money, not only for the purposes of external battle with Scotland and France from 1543 to 1546, at a cost of more than two million pounds (Schneider, Vol. 1, page 51), but equally to finance the king's extravagance. As North states so well (vol. 2, page 18), 'By 1542 Henry had come to the end of the fortune so carefully amassed by his father, and was searching for new sources of revenue'. He ordered his gold coinage 3 carats short of the old standard, at which it remained until his demise, but found most of his dishonest 'revenue' in the silver coinage, resulting in the well-known poor-quality testoons and other minor denominations (the composition being a mere 2 dwt instead of the former sterling standard). While these late-period 'silver' coins are found charming by today's collectors, in their day they were despised by merchants who weighed and tested the coins. Challis explains (A New History of the Royal Mint, page 236) that as the debasement of Henry's silver coinage continued and even when his son attempted to revert to the traditional fineness, and the public 'had no means of accurately distinguishing one debased coin from another'. Bankers did. Much of Henry VIII's coinage was destroyed within a century of being made, replaced by money of finer-quality metal. How blessed we are that some early collector saved this relic of such troubled times.

Estimate: £26,000-28,000