Coinage of the House of Stuart

Thank you for that very informative post @Bart9349, and for those great coin pics.

 

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I've always had a soft spot for British coins and favored them until I sold most of them in the late 80's to focus on ancient Roman coins. Here is my only leftover, purchased in a coin shop in Dublin in 1983 for the equivalent of $35:

Tower Shilling
Tun Mintmark
Spink COE 2791

 

That is intriguing information, Doug. I wonder if that is why my James I shilling has a hole in it? But that is at the center of the coin - could it have been suspended that way?

 

Great coin @Fugio1 - thank you for posting it. I wish I would have started collecting James II Irish Gun money when I was younger - I think that would be a fascinating pursuit!

Reference: O'Brien Coin Guide: James II Gun money an excellent online illustrated reference

 

Please excuse my resurrecting this old thread, but I am anxious to get feedback on this much expanded web page that I have written. All comments will be much appreciated.

 

I appreciate your work and interest in this time period. I like the website, also.

In recent years, my favorite period of time to research has been the late Stuart - early Georgian era.

Over the last few years, I have posted on Cointalk several threads about this period. Here are a few of them:

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/late-1600s-england-cure-of-diseases-by-coins.245525/

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/the-tin-farthing-and-halfpenny.303503/

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/mourning-a-great-monarch-english-medal-of-mary-ii.240407/

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/queen-anne-medal-significance-answer-to-come-later.207320/

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/british-the-queen-has-died.249659/

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/something-for-jacobites-and-early-brit-fans.228675/

Thank you, again, for sharing your interest.

 

Nice page, James.

 

Thank you for those links @Bart9349 - I have enjoyed reading them and learned much from them. I particularly enjoyed the posts relating to “touch coins” - excellent. I only recently organized the coins I depict on this web page into some kind of order - I discovered several of them as I was cleaning out my “Man Cave” recently - some I had tossed into “odds and ends” boxes over the years to be researched and attributed at some time - that never happened - now it has. Many of those coins were non-descript and in not very good condition - now that I have a re-kindled interest I have added several specimens.

I have always had a great deal of interest in English Civil War history for I was born and grew up only a few miles from the location of the battle of Preston and there were several skirmishes that occurred around the area in which I lived. I have read a good bit on the subject over the years (I really like the modern books of Antonia Fraser by the way) but I am now reading a great deal more. So I really appreciate your excellent post here Guy. Thank you.

Added via Edit: I just realized that I had previously posted about most of the information in that last paragraph - please excuse the repetition - old age creeping in again!

 

Thank you Mat.

 

And great information relating to tIn farthings (and other denominations) in you postings, Guy! Thank you.​

 

…………… and your posting relating to Queen Anne’s death was really special, Guy - one of the best write-ups I have read on this Forum. Thank you!

 

Jamesicus - Thanks for sharing. I most enjoy posts like yours as I can learn so much. It's the history that brings coins to life.

 

Thank you @Robidoux Pass. Yes, it mostly the historical associations of the coins that endears them to me also.

 

I'm humbled to see so many of the ancient coins section people interested in UK coinage, I feel less alone

Charles II, half crown



William & Mary, half crown


Q

 

Great coins as usual, Q! I particularly like the William & Mary. I think the late Stuart period silver crowns and half-crowns are spectacular.

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Two of my crowns with updated attribution information:

Charles II (1660-1685) First year (1662) issue silver crown


Diameter: 40mm (initial issue large flan) Weight: 29.57gm

Obverse depiction: Draped laureate bust with Rose below (minted using native silver from western Britain).
Inscription: CAROLVS II DEI GRA
(Charles the second by the Grace of God)

Reverse depiction: Four crowned shields, cruciform, the top bearing the arms of England and France quartered, the right bearing the arms of Scotland, the bottom bearing the arms of England and France quartered and the left bearing the arms of Ireland. In the angles formed by adjoining shields are two intertwined C's. At the center is the Star of the Garter.

Inscription: MAG BR FRA ET HIB REX 1662
(King of Great Britain, France and Ireland)

Edge Inscription: * + * DECVS ET TVTAMEN
(An Ornament and a Safeguard).

Notes:
1. Monarchy restored - Charles II - in 1660
2. Milled coins with edge inscriptions adopted in 1662
3. Bubonic Plague epidemic 1665-1666
4. Great fire of London 2 September - 6 September 1666


Charles II (1660-1685) later (1671) issue silver crown


Diameter: 38mm (reduced flan size) Weight: 29.58gm
(flan thickness increased slightly to maintain weight of silver content).

Obverse depiction: Draped laureate bust.
Inscription: CAROLVS II DEI GRATIA
(Charles the second by the Grace of God)

Reverse depiction: Four crowned shields, cruciform, the top bearing the arms of England, the right bearing the arms of Scotland, the bottom bearing the arms of France and the left bearing the arms of Ireland. In the angles formed by adjoining shields are two intertwined C's. At the center is the Star of the Garter.

Inscription: MAG BR FRA ET HIB REX 16(71)
(King of Great Britain, France and Ireland)

Edge Inscription: * + * · DECVS · ET · TVTAMEN · ANNO · REGNI · VICESIMO · TERTIO
(An Ornament and a Safeguard) (to deter edge clipping} - followed by date of minting information.

 

I wish you great success with your study of the Stuarts. They are a very interesting, but mostly dysfunctional bunch.

As an interesting aside, I recommend the move "The Favourite" with many caveats.
The movie is about the last Stuart monarch Anne a la Hollywood.

http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/the-favourite/

 

Thank you for that cautious recommendation! I will be on the lookout for it!

As I mentioned previously, I was born and grew up in an area of Lancashire that had great historical association with the English Civil War. Just a couple of miles from my house was the great historical estate of The Towneley family (a lesser Downton Abbey that dates back to the 1300s). They had deep Catholic roots and were closely allied with the Royalist cause during the Civil War. There was quite a lot of fighting here at the time of the battle of Preston. I used to walk to school and home through the Towneley grounds daily when I was a young schoolboy in the late 1930s and early 1940s - my friends and I used to play “Cavaliers and Roundheads” using hand made wooden swords on the Towneley grounds, for we we were taught about the history of that time at school - ah, happy days! Following is a link to a great page relating to the Towneley family including their association with the Royalist cause. Please check it out for it is a good read:
https://lancashirepast.com/2018/03/30/towneley-hall-burnley/

 

I only have this coin from James I (crude strike)
AV Thistle Crown ND Escallop mm.

 

Hopefully, I will add another in Heritage Auction Sale in Spring.

 

Great coin as usual John! Gold coins of the Stuart’s are rare and usually very expensive, but knowing your love of gold coins, I bet you snare one soon. I am looking forward to that.