Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3030 5-6 January 2014
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Great Britain
Elizabeth I (1558-1603) gold Half Pound ND, S-2520, North-1982, 1st Issue of 1558-61, London, Cross-crosslet mm (1560-61), made of crown-gold (.916 fine), AU Details "Repaired" NGC, lustrous and choice, perhaps a hint of rub, boldly struck from pebbly or rusted dies, excellent and well-detailed portrait of the queen, sharp strike on reverse showing all the details of the royal shield and the large crown on top, also splendid sharpness in the legends and on the initial marks, and lovely yellow-gold in color. The flan is slightly irregular in shape, which is typical of the type, and seems to be As Struck to the cataloguer's eye. If there is a repair, it is subtle. As fine as any piece we can locate on the market in recent years.As Elizabeth's mint-masters continued to attempt to reconstitute the coinage from its debased state of the 1540s and the next decade, silver issued forth in quantity, and gold took on a number of new sizes and denominations. Commerce was flourishing. Unlike her predecessors, Elizabeth spoke several European languages and conducted business at court shrewdly. It is said that she had the ability to read in French, speak in Italian, and dictate in Latin simultaneously. She was an early multi-tasker, but she was also a genius. She flummoxed any minister who sought by guile to manipulate her. Keeping the exact nature of her faith private, no one could intrigue against her on religious grounds. She took the throne at the exact moment of the flowering of the Renaissance in England, and her reign came to define the term. The wonderful portrait pieces of her brother from 1549-50, now very rare, were the first intimations of the sea-change in portraiture style. But what we see here, on this charming gold coin, is that change in full bloom. Here we see a lifelike queen, regal and elegant, festooned in fancy ruff and dressed in what looks like expensive cloth -- an image that was impossible earlier, before artists from abroad cast their influence on English art. It is, however, an early portrait. Later representations of her majesty would become even finer. This coin glimmers as an early issue.
Estimate: 7000-9000 USD
Elizabeth I (1558-1603) gold Half Pound ND, S-2520, North-1982, 1st Issue of 1558-61, London, Cross-crosslet mm (1560-61), made of crown-gold (.916 fine), AU Details "Repaired" NGC, lustrous and choice, perhaps a hint of rub, boldly struck from pebbly or rusted dies, excellent and well-detailed portrait of the queen, sharp strike on reverse showing all the details of the royal shield and the large crown on top, also splendid sharpness in the legends and on the initial marks, and lovely yellow-gold in color. The flan is slightly irregular in shape, which is typical of the type, and seems to be As Struck to the cataloguer's eye. If there is a repair, it is subtle. As fine as any piece we can locate on the market in recent years.As Elizabeth's mint-masters continued to attempt to reconstitute the coinage from its debased state of the 1540s and the next decade, silver issued forth in quantity, and gold took on a number of new sizes and denominations. Commerce was flourishing. Unlike her predecessors, Elizabeth spoke several European languages and conducted business at court shrewdly. It is said that she had the ability to read in French, speak in Italian, and dictate in Latin simultaneously. She was an early multi-tasker, but she was also a genius. She flummoxed any minister who sought by guile to manipulate her. Keeping the exact nature of her faith private, no one could intrigue against her on religious grounds. She took the throne at the exact moment of the flowering of the Renaissance in England, and her reign came to define the term. The wonderful portrait pieces of her brother from 1549-50, now very rare, were the first intimations of the sea-change in portraiture style. But what we see here, on this charming gold coin, is that change in full bloom. Here we see a lifelike queen, regal and elegant, festooned in fancy ruff and dressed in what looks like expensive cloth -- an image that was impossible earlier, before artists from abroad cast their influence on English art. It is, however, an early portrait. Later representations of her majesty would become even finer. This coin glimmers as an early issue.
Estimate: 7000-9000 USD