I have noticed marked differences in strike quality between Edward VI shillings struck with facing bust, and those portraying the king in the (standard) side bust. The facing busts seem generally better struck than the side busts. Is there an explanation for this? for example, if one type was struck with a rolling press, and the other type using a screw press. This is my example of the side bust. I have always considered this to be about Fine in terms of grade. From what I have seen, this may be conservative for the issue?
Nice coin and I think it's a bit better than Fine for the type. You are right about the striking differences. The side portraits are always weaker. I think it has to do with them having so much open area in the fields and the way the metal flows when they are struck. I think at this point they were still being hammered.
That is a real nice shilling of Edward VI @Eduard . This time period is beyond my area of knowledge so I can only hazard a guess. I know Edward VI restored the fineness of the English coinage in the 1550 or 1551, shortly before he died, and that previously his coins were debased with a very low silver content. Like Edward's early coins, those of his father Henry VIII were debased and of very poor quality. It could be that the mint didn't put much effort into producing quality coins given that their silver content was so low. Counterfeiting was a major problem too, and the kingdom suffered from the poor fiscal situation. There was a large amount of turnover due to 'irregularities' within the Treasury and a number of regional mints were closed. My guess is that the reintroduction of quality silver coinage coincided with a reorganization of the mint which brought about better quality die work.
I understand the need for low relief designs when using such thin flans but never understood the difference between the shallow portraits and the more deeply cut legends. Was this just a matter of their use of punches for letters?
Thank you for your comments. I have not been able to find any information about how these coins (side bust vs 3/4 facing bust) we're struck, but there is a difference. I think you may be right, alde, it could very well have something to do with the fact that Edward's early coinage (of which this is an example) was of debased silver content and this also led to poor/careless strikes.
