Watch List notes:

The Geoffrey Cope Collection of British Coins. James I. 1603-1625.
AV Spur Ryal (34mm, 6.90 g, 7h). Second coinage, fine gold issue. London mint; im: tower. Struck 1612-1613. Half-length facing bust of James, holding sword and shield, in ship sailing right, adorned with rose; I on flag set on forecastle / Floriated cross with lis at end of each limb and rose on sun at center; in angles, crowned lion passant left; all within tressure of eight arches with trefoils in spandrels. Schneider –; North 2080; SCBC 2614.
A well struck example of this wonderful type. Richly toned.
Near EF. Very rare.

Purchased E. Bohr, December 2005. Ex Spink 81 (19 November 1990), lot 44; Spink 9 (4 June 1980), lot 375; M.W. Hall (Glendining, 3 October 1963), lot 158; E.C. Carter Collection (purchased en bloc by Baldwin's, 1950).
Sir Charles Oman writes: 'the 'spur-ryal' is the last English coin to reproduce the old type of the king in his ship, which descended from Edward III's original noble, but here reproduces the rose-noble of Edward IV. The ship is not the old heraldic vessel, but a seventeenth-century man-of-war with two rows of gun-holes and two masts. The king does not adhere to Elizabeth's type of a figure in civil dress with ruff and sceptre, but goes back to that of Henry VIII, showing the king fully armed with sword and shield.... ryals are extremely uncommon - and it is even probable that they were never struck in any quantity for real currency, but were issued for royal gifts and distribution in ceremonies.'