Elizabeth the First coin

Thank you in advance for anyone who can offer some advice. I would like to obtain a coin from the reign of Elizabeth the First.
So far I have had little luck. In fact I am not even sure if the World coin forum is the right place to ask.
My own area of interest is American coins, but my daughter is a huge English history buff and I was hoping to get her hooked on coins by finding one of her favorite ruler.
I don't know what denominations are available. I am hoping to find one with a nice portrait if possible. I am also hoping to keep the price below 200 dollars. Don't know if that is realistic or not.
How to avoid a fake and who is a reliable dealer? I have wasted quite a few hours searching the net and have little to show for it.
Your advice will truly be appreciated. James

 

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Vcoins.com would be an easy place to start - it is a collection of dealers who mostly sell,ancient coins, but you can find medieval and modern coins there too.

In terms of denominations, there are loads for Elizabeth - pennies, three pence, groats, shillings - all kind of stuff. I have an Elizabeth 3 pence which is roughly the size of a US penny. Can't say I remember what I paid for it, but you should be able to find one of the smaller denominations with a clear portrait for less than $200 (clear portraits are hard to come by in the series - don't expect them to be as well struck as US coins)


England
Elizabeth I, r. 1558-1603 (1579)
AR Three Pence, Fifth Issue, 18.91mm x 1.1 grams
Obv.: ✚Elizabeth D G Ang Fra et Hib Regina
Rev.: Posui Deu Adiutorem Meu
Ref.: SCBC 2573

(And welcome to CT Sam!)

 

thank you for the information. I have made numerous attempts to find her coins on v-coins but get nowhere.
I look under medieval, world and just now tried the denominations you mentioned but can't seem to get the right format to make the correct search. Oh, and thank you for the welcome.

 

Hi Sam, There are some listed on E-bay, I would not know a fake from real. But maybe you could find a restike that you would not have to worry about value. You would get a coin with clearer detail, more appealing to the curious starter, at minimum investment. Would also allow more time for proper research for the real thing.

 

Just search the name 'Elizabeth' - most of what you will find will be modern Elizabeth II, but all the ones that look like the coin I posted above will be hers (all the silver ones look the same). You'll just need to do some scrolling.

When I did this, there was a groat for $125 on the first page - fairly good strike and portrait.

 

Thanks for the feed back. That search worked. I have several months to find the right coin, but this gives me a good place to follow. Next up will be finding a good reference book. I haven't decided if I should buy her the book, or buy it as an anonymous donation to our library. She works there and shelving the new books is one of her tasks. Sometimes being subtle is better than the obvious. But have plenty of time to think on that. Thanks again.

 

QE is rather important to American history of course, your daughter surely knows. It was QE that sent Sir Francis Drake on his way and also sent the initial colonists to the Roanoke colony in 1587. Had the pesky Spaniards under King Phillip not tried to invade England in 1588 the Roanoke colony might well have been resupplied earlier on and survived.

I have some tanners and bobs of QE myself, IMHO she was a most fascinating monarch from that period - she stood her own and ruled in her own right and was quite adept at playing competing interests against one another in order to retain her supremacy.

 

Here is a link to some that acre a bit more than you want to spend. But searching the site may give you some ideas. I've selected the link to the sixpences.

https://24carat.co.uk/frame.php?url=1562sixpence.html

 

I've looked into this a bit myself. It's possible to get a nice sixpence for around $200, or you could go with a threepence. A penny would be within your budget, as might be a halfgroat, but you should keep in mind that a penny is going to be very small (probably around 13-14mm diameter). A sixpence will be around 25mm (around the size of a quarter). Threepence will be around 19-21mm, so about the size of a dime.

Also keep in mind that some of these coins will have dates and some will not. Sixpence and threepence tend to have dates. Pennies will not. Given that I would recommend either a sixpence or threepence.

 

Actually 10 years ago I had someone contact me on my website [Coinsandhistory] with the same request. Eventually I had them buy a coin from Spinks which was a little more than EBay, but all the pending Ebay coins appeared to have undisclosed problems.

I've bought 2-3 coins from Ebay in my life and returned ALL of them.

The good news: Eliz I coins (1558 -1603) are pretty common & available. Price depends on whether you want a high grade large silver crown (1601), a gold soverign, or perhaps the most common: a silver sixpence.

Also if you're looking for a particular date, you can probably find it in the sixpences tho I recall the silver in the earliest part of her reign was undated.

 

Thanks for additional information. I don't believe she will be to concerned if the coin doesn't feature a date. I am counting on the portrait as the main feature. I will have to see if the six pence can be bought with a good portrait in my price range. Thanks all again.

 

Drake allegedly left an inscribed plate of brass and an Elizabeth sixpence in Northern California in 1579.

 

The most plausible story on that plate is that it was created in the 1930s, buried for awhile then dug up as a "discovery". I believe it might be at UC Berkeley still. It is established that Drake likely did visit the area around Drake's Bay, but the plate is spurious.

 

England Silver Sixpence 1561 Elizabeth I

Obverse: Crowned bust of Elizabeth facing left with a rose behind her head
ELIZABETH D G ANG FR ET HI REGINA followed by a downward arrow mintmark
(Elizabeth by the Grace of God, England, France and Ireland, Queen)
Reverse: Shield with arms (lions and fleurs-de-lis) and long cross behind
POSVI DEV ADIVTOREM MEV (I have made God my Helper)
Size: 27mm Weight: 2.75gm
Tower Mint, Downward Arrow (a "pheon") mintmark, above the Queen's head

The Drake plate on display is a fake, but that means that the real one is still out there.



More about the Drake "Plate of Brasse" here:
http://www.cointalk.com/threads/olo...a-sir-francis-drake-elizabeth-sixpence.279087

 

Years ago at a coin club meeting the infamous Walter Breen gave a talk about the tanner and the plate. I believe he was a bit ambiguous on the authenticity of the plate, this being in the mid 1980s.

 

Walter was kind of a hippie then, maybe he lived at Olompali.

 

Walter was always something. I never cared much for his political and religious tirades at coin clubs and coin shows.

 

It is definitely possible to get coins of Lizzie for a fair price. I prefer the shilling, because of its large size and good detail. Many of the coins from Elizabeth I have problems, and most on Ebay are overpriced. It will take a little bit of looking, but you can find attractive coins with great detail for around your budget (try to avoid coins with obvious surface problems, such as cleaning or scratches). The groat and sixpence will generally be cheaper, but nothing beats a shilling for value (in my opinion). While this coin is a bit more than your price range, this seems like a good place to post a shilling I used to own. I purchased it in 2009 for $200, and sold it last year for $450. It is graded VF-30 by NGC:

 

I have one of the

 

I have a coin u might want to take a look at