I've had this for awhile but I figured I would break up the tetradrachm posts with my other side interest, medieval hammered coins. These are fairly common but they are still expensive, I scored this for $55 shipped as I guess some of the double scared people off. I was happy to have some face showing on Charles. Most are worn. Charles I (1625 - 1649 A.D.) AR Half Crown O: · · CAROL[V]S D’· G’· MAG’· BRI’· FRA’ ET · HIB’· REX ·, Charles on horseback left, holding reins with left hand and sword in right / (triangle in circle). R: CHRISTO · AVSPICE · REGNO ·, oval coat-of-arms. Group IV Tower (London)Mint, Struck 1641 - 1642 A.D. 34mm 14.96g Cf. Bull 463/31; Brooker 374 var. (HI not HIB); North 2214; SCBC 2779.
What a great coin @Mat and the price is unbeatable. I would snap that coin up in a heart beat. I have one half-crown of Charles I, badly clipped.
Great coins. This thread made me look up when hammered coins stopped being made in England. According to Wikipedia: In England, the first non-hammered coins were produced in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in the 1560s, but while machine-produced coins were experimentally produced at intervals over the next century, the production of hammered coins did not finally end until 1662.
I have one of those early milled pieces, a 6-pence dated 1568 (above the coat of arms on the reverse):
@Mat What a great find! It is nice to see details in Charles’ face versus the normal blob of head that you see on coins of this period. The fact that you can make out 80+% of the legends is a huge plus for me too. Congratulations, that’s a great add.
Neither the crowns or half crowns were the coinage of the common folk so they really make you wonder who used them and what did they purchase.