AU58 | Charles II (1660-85), gold Five Guineas, 1670, first laureate head right, Latin legend and toothed border surrounding, CAROLVS. II. DEI. GRATIA, rev. crowned cruciform shields, nine strings to Irish harp, sceptres in angles, four interlinked Cs at centre, date either side of top crown, Latin legend and toothed border surrounding, .MAG. BR. FRA. ET. HIB. REX., edge inscribed in raised letters and dated, +.DECVS. ET. TVTAMEN. ANNO. REGNI. VICESIMO. SECVNDO., 41.64g (Schneider -; EGC 172; MCE 5; S.3328). Pleasant red tone, with much colour on reverse, some nicks and surface marks, graded by NGC as AU58, this coin is the joint finest graded at both NGC and PCGS.

NGC Certification 6031694-001.

The Latin legends on this coin translate as "Charles the Second, by the grace of God" on the obverse, "King of Great Britain, France and Ireland" on the reverse, and finally on the edge "An ornament and a safeguard, in the twenty second year of his reign" the regnal year being counted for Charles II from the death of his Father, as if the Commonwealth period of rule did not take place.

The Samuel King Survey co-written by this cataloguer and published in May 2005 recorded sixty examples of the 1670 Five Guineas in commerce over a 45-year period 1960-2005. The gold output of coinage for the calendar year of 1670 was £121,833 which interestingly was lower than the silver output for the year.

Provenance:
Purchased from Dolphin Coins, July 2002.

(£30,000-£40,000)