St. James's Auctions
Auction 35 9 February 2016
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
BRITISH COINS, Elizabeth I, seventh issue, halfcrown, mm. 1 (1601-1602), crowned bust l., with orb and sceptre, rev. shield of arms, dated 1 on each side at end of legend (S.2583; N.2011), extremely fine with a superb bold portrait, virtually as struck, complete and sharp letters in both legends with much of the outer circle beading in evidence, faint crack beginning at end of the queen's name and ancient red wax within, given great eye appeal by a beautiful multi-hued bluish grey patina, the finest we have seen!
When Elizabeth Tudor died in the early morning of 24 March 1603 at Richmond Palace, she had lived for seven decades and had reigned as sole Queen of England for forty-five years. Born to Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII, she grew up without a mother and all but ignored by her father, to whom she was more than a disappointment, not being a boy. The English public knew almost nothing about her, and at court and in much of Europe she was considered to be illegitimate. When she passed away in old age, much of the world knew her as a brilliant monarch and she was greatly loved throughout her kingdom. As the day dawned on 24 March 1603, her coffin was reverently lit by torches on a royal barge that carried her remains downriver to Whitehall. A month later, her coffin was moved to Westminster Abbey. The hearse was drawn by four horses draped in black velvet, and the Elizabethan chronicler John Stow recorded that 'Westminster was surcharged with multitudes of all sorts of people in their streets, houses, windows, leads and gutters, that came out to see the obsequy, and when they beheld her statue lying upon the coffin, there was such a general sighing, groaning and weeping as the like hath not been seen or known in the memory of man'. It was a remarkable transformation! Over the course of her life, Elizabeth I, Tudor, had altered the English monarchy in numerous ways, not the least of which was tendering to the Crown the true affection of her diverse subjects, a passion little felt for any previous royalty
Numismatists have little trouble finding coins of Elizabeth, but locating any coin featuring a complete portrait is a major difficulty, owing to the way most of the coins were struck and to the ravages of the centuries. We are left with images of her on statues and paintings held by museums, and on many of her coins. These images portray a life at court but not always realistically. Beautiful as a girl, Elizabeth withered over time, as nearly everyone did in the sixteenth century. After the Armada in 1588, her image in paintings became more fanciful, and artistically she was fashioned after Gloriana, as eternally youthful, the Faerie Queene of Spenser's epic poem. Portraits in later years became increasingly less true to life. She had been blighted by smallpox in 1562, pockmarked and made partially bald. She wore wigs and coated herself in layers of fragrant powder in order to mask reality. One of the finest but most fanciful paintings of her is 'The Rainbow Portrait' of 1600, which possibly inspired the final images of her on the coinage, none finer than the image found on this halfcrown.
Estimate: £10,000-15,000
When Elizabeth Tudor died in the early morning of 24 March 1603 at Richmond Palace, she had lived for seven decades and had reigned as sole Queen of England for forty-five years. Born to Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII, she grew up without a mother and all but ignored by her father, to whom she was more than a disappointment, not being a boy. The English public knew almost nothing about her, and at court and in much of Europe she was considered to be illegitimate. When she passed away in old age, much of the world knew her as a brilliant monarch and she was greatly loved throughout her kingdom. As the day dawned on 24 March 1603, her coffin was reverently lit by torches on a royal barge that carried her remains downriver to Whitehall. A month later, her coffin was moved to Westminster Abbey. The hearse was drawn by four horses draped in black velvet, and the Elizabethan chronicler John Stow recorded that 'Westminster was surcharged with multitudes of all sorts of people in their streets, houses, windows, leads and gutters, that came out to see the obsequy, and when they beheld her statue lying upon the coffin, there was such a general sighing, groaning and weeping as the like hath not been seen or known in the memory of man'. It was a remarkable transformation! Over the course of her life, Elizabeth I, Tudor, had altered the English monarchy in numerous ways, not the least of which was tendering to the Crown the true affection of her diverse subjects, a passion little felt for any previous royalty
Numismatists have little trouble finding coins of Elizabeth, but locating any coin featuring a complete portrait is a major difficulty, owing to the way most of the coins were struck and to the ravages of the centuries. We are left with images of her on statues and paintings held by museums, and on many of her coins. These images portray a life at court but not always realistically. Beautiful as a girl, Elizabeth withered over time, as nearly everyone did in the sixteenth century. After the Armada in 1588, her image in paintings became more fanciful, and artistically she was fashioned after Gloriana, as eternally youthful, the Faerie Queene of Spenser's epic poem. Portraits in later years became increasingly less true to life. She had been blighted by smallpox in 1562, pockmarked and made partially bald. She wore wigs and coated herself in layers of fragrant powder in order to mask reality. One of the finest but most fanciful paintings of her is 'The Rainbow Portrait' of 1600, which possibly inspired the final images of her on the coinage, none finer than the image found on this halfcrown.
Estimate: £10,000-15,000