Baldwin's of St. James's
Auction 34 12 Jun 2019
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British Coins, Mary, ryal of 15 shillings, MDLIII (1553), mm. pomegranate, crowned queen in warship holding shield and sword, rose on side at centre, flag at stern bearing the queen's initial, rev. floriated cross with a lis at the end of each limb, rose on sunburst at centre, in each angle a lion passant crowned, all within a tressure of eight arches, annulet stops in legends, floriated cross, lis at end of each limb, rose on sun in centre, wt. 7.49gms. (S.2489; N.1957; Schneider 709), very fine, overall a coin of considerable charm with a slightly faint but still clear image of Mary Tudor and the lovely image of her royal shield on reverse, the legends all clear and well formed, struck on a broad flan which appears not to have been clipped, an old scratch on reverse missing most design elements and another short one to left, also a short flan crack, old-gold colour, an extremely rare and important gold coin
*ex Sir John Evans
ex Lockett Collection
This coin was a type carried forward from a style used by the Yorkist king Edward IV and is one of the important rarities of the Tudor Age. The tragic Queen Mary Tudor, torn by the age she lived in between Catholics and 'heretics', survived too short a time to issue many coins. Nonetheless, her gold coins are all of delightful design and truly rare. A close-up metallic portrait of her occurs only on the profile-issue silver groat, yet we see a fuller image of her on this gold piece. The use of an earlier style of a once-familiar gold coin may have been an effort by the Royal Mint to re-establish confidence in the intrinsic value of the coinage which had been so devastated by the excesses of her famous father. This ryal was made of nearly pure gold, 23 ct, 3.5 grains. Its purity continued the renewal of intrinsic fineness of the coinage begun in her brother's reign. Mary's royal legends, so clearly seen on this pleasing specimen, are often misshapen or partially missing on her coins. The symbolic images of royal right are also all distinct, including the fluttering of the banner bearing Mary's initial. Mary's end, so soon after she ascended the throne, also ended much of the religious strife of the kingdom, at least for a while. In the departure of her Spanish husband soon after her death lay the birth of a rivalry, and a bitter enmity, between England and Catholic Spain which would last for centuries.
(130000-150000 GBP)
*ex Sir John Evans
ex Lockett Collection
This coin was a type carried forward from a style used by the Yorkist king Edward IV and is one of the important rarities of the Tudor Age. The tragic Queen Mary Tudor, torn by the age she lived in between Catholics and 'heretics', survived too short a time to issue many coins. Nonetheless, her gold coins are all of delightful design and truly rare. A close-up metallic portrait of her occurs only on the profile-issue silver groat, yet we see a fuller image of her on this gold piece. The use of an earlier style of a once-familiar gold coin may have been an effort by the Royal Mint to re-establish confidence in the intrinsic value of the coinage which had been so devastated by the excesses of her famous father. This ryal was made of nearly pure gold, 23 ct, 3.5 grains. Its purity continued the renewal of intrinsic fineness of the coinage begun in her brother's reign. Mary's royal legends, so clearly seen on this pleasing specimen, are often misshapen or partially missing on her coins. The symbolic images of royal right are also all distinct, including the fluttering of the banner bearing Mary's initial. Mary's end, so soon after she ascended the throne, also ended much of the religious strife of the kingdom, at least for a while. In the departure of her Spanish husband soon after her death lay the birth of a rivalry, and a bitter enmity, between England and Catholic Spain which would last for centuries.
(130000-150000 GBP)