MS61 Elizabeth I (1558-1603), gold Ship Ryal or Rose Noble of Fifteen Shillings, Continental issue struck contemporaneously with the English for circulation and use in the Low Countries, Queen Elizabeth standing in Tudor warship sailing left, holding orb and sceptre, rose on hull, E on banner at bow, Latin legend and beaded borders surrounding both sides, ELI ZAB; D; G; ANG; FR; ET. h IB REGInA., rev. rose on sun with sixteen rays at centre, cruciform cross fleury ends with lis terminal surrounding, crown over lion in each angle, all within a tressure of eight arcs, small trefoils in spandrels, initial mark escallop (1584-86), IhS; AVT; TRAnSIEnS. PER. mEDIV; ILLORVm. IBAT., 7.57g (cf. Thompson 7A/9C; Schneider -; N.2004 note; S.2530 note). Flan a little undulating, some surface marks, has been graded by NGC as MS61, extremely rare.

NGC Certification 5880727-008.

This coin has been labelled as England by NGC and is therefore the finest graded under their classification, though it is of the Continental die variety, the coin is nevertheless extremely rare in such a high state of preservation.

Provenance:
Ex Mark Rasmussen Numismatist, List 22, Winter 2011, item 55 offered at £40,000.

The English versions were minted for trade specifically with Europe, issued as a direct result of the struggle of the Low Countries against Spain, and for financing an English presence governed under the Earl of Leicester, and for military involvement as agreed by Queen Elizabeth I in the Treaty of Nonsuch of 1585.

Apart from a flurry of mint activity at the Tower of London from 1st August 1585 to 30th April 1586 where 628lb and 8oz of gold was made into coin, the whole project was shortly afterwards abandoned due to the difficulty in running the scheme through the controlled flow of bullion.

This was magnified by the fact that the Dutch were producing their own Continental Rose Nobles in at least two rival schemes, an example of which we have offered here for sale. The other scheme was for the Rose Noble imitations, being produced in Gorcum (Gorinchem).

Consequently, the English scheme, apart from some limited circulation, did not succeed, and the gold Ryal of fifteen shillings is subsequently one of the rarest denominations for the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, whether as an English original or the contemporary Continental issue like the coin above.

For further reading about such coins see Elizabethan Ryals and their Dutch Imitations 1584-92 by J D A Thompson, Numismatic Chronicle, sixth series, volume I, 1941, pages 139-168 with plates.

See also The Tudor Coinage by C E Challis, specifically pages 263-268 regarding these issues, and Gold Coinage of Elizabeth I by I D Brown and C H Comber, British Numismatic Journal, volume 59, 1989, pages 91-119 and plates.
(£30,000-40,000)