Watch List notes:

Mary, ryal of 15 shillings, MDLIII (1553), mm. pomegranate, crowned queen stg. facing in ship, holding sword, other hand upon top of royal shield, Tudor rose below, M on fluttering flag at stern, annulet stops, rev. floriated cross with a lis at the end of each quartered limb, rose on sunburst at centre, in each angle a lion passant crowned, all within a tressure of eight arches, annulet stops in legends, wt. 7.62gms. (S.2489; N.1957 [ER]; Schneider 709 - same dies), light crease, almost imperceptible striking crack in centre but otherwise choice surfaces on obverse, a few ancient scuffs on reverse, faint granulation at centre, otherwise good very fine, extremely rare in all grades *ex Spink, 13 December 2011, lot 92 ex V. J. E. Ryan, Glendining, 28-30 June 1950, lot 260 ex B. Roth, Sotheby, 19-20 July 1917, lot 274 ex A. W. Hankin, Sotheby, 29 March 1900, lot 308 One of the important rarities of the Tudor Age, this specimen was struck on an unusually full round flan and, for issue, is well struck with an attractive portrait of the tragic 'Bloody Mary', whose religion and confused politics set back the historical movement towards freedom in the kingdom. Her farcical union with Spain's Prince Philip in 1554, the year after this coin was minted in her name alone, brought the terror of the Inquisition to English shores, but before long the reign ended with Mary's death from stomach cancer, as did the Catholicism that had been so harshly forced upon her subjects. This coin was a type carried forward from a style used by the Yorkist king Edward IV. As we have recounted in related lots, this use of an earlier style of a once-familiar gold coin may well have been an effort by the Royal Mint to re-establish confidence in the intrinsic value of the coinage. This ryal was made of nearly pure gold, 23 ct. 3.5 grains, continuing the renewal of fineness begun in her brother's reign. Its legends, seen so clearly on this pleasing specimen, are sometimes misshapen or partially missing on other examples. The symbolic images of royal right are also all distinct, as are the elements of the 'ship of state', including an ironic fluttering of the banner bearing Mary's initial, suggestive of a faltering monarch's power, about to be lost. The dead queen's little sister, the Princess Elizabeth, would finalise England's return to the old standards of quality in the silver and gold money, putting the kingdom on an equal footing with financial and political enemies on the Continent. Elizabeth was also wise beyond Mary or Edward's ability, and her guidance would never throw the monarchy into chaos during her 45 years as queen. Indeed, when the golden ryal next appeared, late in Elizabeth's reign, the sun would have burst forth on the kingdom, capturing the reality of the symbol present at the centre of the reverse side of this historical coin.

Estimate: £110,000-120,000