Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXVII 22-23 Mar 2023
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Great Britain, Tudor. Elizabeth I AV Pound. Seventh issue, '1' mm. London (Tower) mint, 1601-1602. 1 : ELIZABETH • D'. G'. ANG'. FRA'. ET • HIB'. REGINA •, crowned and mantled bust to left / 1: SCVTVM • FIDEI • PROTEGET • EAM •, crowned coat-of-arms; E-R across fields. SCBC 2539; North 2008; Schneider 805; Brown & Comber F23. 11.24g, 39mm, 7h.
Extremely Fine; faint graffito 'G44' to right rev. field. Extremely Rare with this mintmark and in this denomination; only four other specimens found on CoinArchives.
Ex Christopher Comber Collection;
Acquired from Knightsbridge Coins Ltd, 1995.
The daughter of Henry VIII and his infamous second wife Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I (1558-1603) came to the throne at the young age of 26, at a time when religious division, economic stagnation and foreign invasion seriously threatened the security of the kingdom. In contrast to her half-sister Mary I, the imagery of Elizabeth's coinage centred not on her lineage, but her personal virtues and charisma. Although she would have been in her 60s when this coin was struck, she is depicted with a youthful appearance on the obverse of this coin – her face unlined, her hair loose and flowing in conscious imitation of the Virgin Mary and young unmarried women of the time. This was the result of a fiercely controlled public image, in which artists worked not from a real or even recent likeness of the queen, but a state-sanctioned 'face pattern' which ensured a consistently flattering portrait. The result of this was a projection of the ageless power and purity of the monarch's body, and by extension the 'body politic' of her government, which provided security and prosperity for her subjects.
This coin is also a fine example of the successful restoration of the currency which occurred under Elizabeth, and which she regarded as one of her greatest achievements. English currency had gradually become more and more debased over the sixteenth century, and the situation had become so dire that it was hindering international trade and the solvency of the monarchy. Previous efforts by Edward VI and Mary I, her predecessors, had made little to no effect in improving the quality of coins in circulation. Elizabeth therefore made it a priority, and by 1561 the Royal Mint had collected, melted down and re-minted the debased currency, even making a profit in the process.
Coins of this type, which featured Elizabeth I in her most iconic style, also played a part in early colonisation efforts. Walter Raleigh, on his 1565 voyage to South America, traded gold coins (likely of this type, given his descriptions) with the Arawak people of coastal Guyana. Their value as trade items lay not in their metallic value (gold was plentiful in the region, which Raleigh claimed to be "more lucrative than Peru") but purely in the fine portrait of Elizabeth on the obverse, because the Arawaks desired to have an image of the queen whom Raleigh had told them so much about. He therefore gifted them the coins on the condition they swear allegiance to the image of the queen, and returned from the fabled land of El Dorado with less gold than he had started with (A Discoverie of the large, rich, and beautiful Empire of Guiana, 1596).
Extremely Fine; faint graffito 'G44' to right rev. field. Extremely Rare with this mintmark and in this denomination; only four other specimens found on CoinArchives.
Ex Christopher Comber Collection;
Acquired from Knightsbridge Coins Ltd, 1995.
The daughter of Henry VIII and his infamous second wife Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I (1558-1603) came to the throne at the young age of 26, at a time when religious division, economic stagnation and foreign invasion seriously threatened the security of the kingdom. In contrast to her half-sister Mary I, the imagery of Elizabeth's coinage centred not on her lineage, but her personal virtues and charisma. Although she would have been in her 60s when this coin was struck, she is depicted with a youthful appearance on the obverse of this coin – her face unlined, her hair loose and flowing in conscious imitation of the Virgin Mary and young unmarried women of the time. This was the result of a fiercely controlled public image, in which artists worked not from a real or even recent likeness of the queen, but a state-sanctioned 'face pattern' which ensured a consistently flattering portrait. The result of this was a projection of the ageless power and purity of the monarch's body, and by extension the 'body politic' of her government, which provided security and prosperity for her subjects.
This coin is also a fine example of the successful restoration of the currency which occurred under Elizabeth, and which she regarded as one of her greatest achievements. English currency had gradually become more and more debased over the sixteenth century, and the situation had become so dire that it was hindering international trade and the solvency of the monarchy. Previous efforts by Edward VI and Mary I, her predecessors, had made little to no effect in improving the quality of coins in circulation. Elizabeth therefore made it a priority, and by 1561 the Royal Mint had collected, melted down and re-minted the debased currency, even making a profit in the process.
Coins of this type, which featured Elizabeth I in her most iconic style, also played a part in early colonisation efforts. Walter Raleigh, on his 1565 voyage to South America, traded gold coins (likely of this type, given his descriptions) with the Arawak people of coastal Guyana. Their value as trade items lay not in their metallic value (gold was plentiful in the region, which Raleigh claimed to be "more lucrative than Peru") but purely in the fine portrait of Elizabeth on the obverse, because the Arawaks desired to have an image of the queen whom Raleigh had told them so much about. He therefore gifted them the coins on the condition they swear allegiance to the image of the queen, and returned from the fabled land of El Dorado with less gold than he had started with (A Discoverie of the large, rich, and beautiful Empire of Guiana, 1596).