Edward VI (1547-53), silver Crown of Five Shillings, 1552, Fine Silver issue, boy king on horseback right, date below in Arabic numerals, tail breaks linear and touches beaded inner circle, legend surrounding with initial Gothic letter E over a reversed letter E, initial mark tun both sides, :EDVVARD'. VI: D': G': AGL': FRA': Z: hIBER': REX:, rev. quartered shield of arms upon long cross fourchée, linear and beaded circles surrounding, :POSVI DEVm: A DIVTOR E': mEVm, 31.23g (Lingford dies B/12; N.1933; S.2478). Darkly toned with a few brighter patches, some light pits and striations both sides, slight flan crack on reverse rim at right, otherwise good very fine to about extremely fine, one of the finest known examples of this rarer dated Crown.
The abbreviated Latin legends translate as on the obverse "Edward the Sixth, by the Grace of God, King of England, France and Ireland"; and on the reverse "I have made God my helper," a Psalm from the Bible.
This 1552-dated piece is only the second English Crown to feature a date in Arabic numerals, and is significantly more rare than those dated 1551. The Crown series of Edward VI running from 1551-53 is also the first occasion an English Crown had been issued in silver having been exclusively a gold denomination up to this time. The gold Crowns continue as a concurrent issue until the last hammered issue of Charles II in circa 1662. The dated silver Crowns of Edward VI continue only until 1553 whereupon there is not another until the 1642 issues at the Provincial mints of Charles I at Shrewsbury and Oxford.
Provenance:
Ex Baldwin's Auction 77, 27th September 2012, lot 2700
(£8,000-£12,000)