Watch List notes:

Elizabeth I, second issue of crown gold, half pound, mm. coronet (1567-1570), broad bust, crowned bust l., rev. crowned shield of arms, ER at sides, wt. 5.48gms. (S.2520B; N.1994; Schneider 745), extremely fine for issue with a sharp portrait, rare With an old Spink ticket. Not often pointed out concerning this queen's gold coinage is the source of the specie used by the mint. Peter Woodhead notes (Schneider, Vol. 1, page 70) that gold used for coinage at the beginning of this reign was mainly gained from trade but that, from the late 1560s onward, much gold was seized by English privateers (among them the queen's favourite, Sir Francis Drake) from Spanish galleons returning from the New World loaded with the precious metal. In this coin, then, do we have a regal image fashioned from gold mined in the New World?

Estimate: £6000-7000