Baldwin & Sons
Auction 103 6 Oct 2021
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Charles II, Gold Touch-Piece Medalet by Roett ier. Royal warship under sail left, CAR C· II · D G · M · B
· FR · ET · HI · REX :, Rev. Archangel Michael slaying the Dragon, SOLI DEO GLORIA. 24mm, 3.31 gm.
(MI i 477/86; Woolf dies O22/R28, [O6/R6]). About Very Fine, pierced as usual. Rare. £450-£650
Under the Commonwealth, both the denomination of the 'Angel' and the ceremony of 'touching' to cure the Kings
Evil (Scrofula) ceased. When the ritual was reintroduced during the Restoration of Charles II (1660-1685), who
was keen to substantiate the Royal position, a gold medalet, now specifi cally a touch-piece, was created to replace
the angel. Designed solely for the touching ceremony and not meant to be used as currency, this medalet continued
to employ the designs of the former angel (although now the ship was modernized by depicting Charles's warship
'the Sovereign of the Seas' accompanied by the legend SOLI DEO GLORIA (Alone to God the glory). The last
reigning monarch to touch on British soil was Anne (1702-1714), who did so three months before her death. The
Hanoverians refused to participate at all and the ritual died out in England, although in France it did so until
the execution of Louis XVI (1774-1793), and was continued by the Stuart Pretenders until the death of Cardinal
Henry Benedict Stuart (Henry IX to the Jacobites) in 1807. King George I, when applied to for a royal touch,
growled, "If you seek that superstition, apply to the Pretender!"
· FR · ET · HI · REX :, Rev. Archangel Michael slaying the Dragon, SOLI DEO GLORIA. 24mm, 3.31 gm.
(MI i 477/86; Woolf dies O22/R28, [O6/R6]). About Very Fine, pierced as usual. Rare. £450-£650
Under the Commonwealth, both the denomination of the 'Angel' and the ceremony of 'touching' to cure the Kings
Evil (Scrofula) ceased. When the ritual was reintroduced during the Restoration of Charles II (1660-1685), who
was keen to substantiate the Royal position, a gold medalet, now specifi cally a touch-piece, was created to replace
the angel. Designed solely for the touching ceremony and not meant to be used as currency, this medalet continued
to employ the designs of the former angel (although now the ship was modernized by depicting Charles's warship
'the Sovereign of the Seas' accompanied by the legend SOLI DEO GLORIA (Alone to God the glory). The last
reigning monarch to touch on British soil was Anne (1702-1714), who did so three months before her death. The
Hanoverians refused to participate at all and the ritual died out in England, although in France it did so until
the execution of Louis XVI (1774-1793), and was continued by the Stuart Pretenders until the death of Cardinal
Henry Benedict Stuart (Henry IX to the Jacobites) in 1807. King George I, when applied to for a royal touch,
growled, "If you seek that superstition, apply to the Pretender!"