Continuing with my side collection of various medieval coins, the latest addition is a Groat of Queen Mary. Despite the scratch, I felt it had enough meat on it, decent legends and the price was fair. Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558) was the Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death. She is best known for her aggressive attempt to reverse the English Reformation, which had begun during the reign of her father, Henry VIII. The executions that marked her pursuit of the restoration of Roman Catholicism in England and Ireland led to her denunciation as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents. Mary was the only child of Henry VIII by his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, to survive to adulthood. Her younger half-brother Edward VI (son of Henry and Jane Seymour) succeeded their father in 1547 at the age of nine. When Edward became mortally ill in 1553, he attempted to remove Mary from the line of succession because he supposed (correctly) that she would reverse the Protestant reforms that had begun during his reign. On his death, leading politicians tried to proclaim Lady Jane Grey as queen. Mary assembled a force in East Anglia and deposed Jane, who was ultimately beheaded. Mary was—excluding the disputed reigns of Jane and the Empress Matilda—the first queen regnant of England. In 1554, Mary married Philip of Spain, becoming queen consort of Habsburg Spain on his accession in 1556, but she never visited Spain. During her five-year reign, Mary had over 280 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian persecutions. After Mary's death in 1558, her re-establishment of Roman Catholicism was reversed by her younger half-sister and successor Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry and Anne Boleyn, at the beginning of the 45-year Elizabethan Era. Mary (1553 - 1554 A.D.) AR Groat O: mΛRIΛ : (pomegranate) D’. G’. ΛnG'. FRΛ’. Z : hIB’. RЄGI’, crowned bust left; double and single annulet stops. R: VЄRITΛ S (pomegranate) TЄm PORIS FILIΛ, royal coat-of-arms over long cross fourchée. Tower (London) mint; im: pomegranate 23mm 1.86g North 1960; SCBC 2492
Thanks It was the best I could afford within my monthly budget. And in hand, the scratch isn't bothersome. The photo is magnified. So I didn't expect it to get many replies like @Loong Siew did on the same type of coin in better shape. I also refuse to spend what is essentially my rent money a month on 1 coin that is problem free of a type like this. Hence why I will always be a CNG virgin and only slums of Ebay. Ebay proud!
Nice groat of Mary @Mat I like the obverse scratches on the bust. It is a great reminder of just how hated Mary was by the common people of England. While ebay does have a lot of slag, there are some good coins to be had, as you have demonstrated.
Nice coin, Mat. Mary's coinage IS scarce, and that is a nice example. I fully agree!!! the scratch is quite minor and not obtrusive. That is a nice and very historical coin.
That's a coo coin @Mat ! This time is a weak spot in my collection, and I have nothing from western Europe during this period at all. I did have a bloody mary last weekend!
@Mat Thats a fantastic coin scratch and all. If that scratch keeps such an overall nice piece within your budget and out of others’ hands, so be it.
