The Shillings of England and Great Britain

I heartily enjoy adding pieces to this set. Of all the coins I have, this set is the one displayed in my living room for my guests to see. It contains the oldest coins I have, and I am quite proud of it.

My shilling type set is generally comprised of one coin from each monarch. The set is complete back to 1694 as I am choosing to define it, which is rather different than the registry's definition. I am getting one from each king or queen, and any major, long running subtypes. Thus, I have 2 from George III, 3 from Victoria, etc. Many of these I have not posted here before, so I hope you enjoy!

The shilling was a unit of account for hundreds of years, but no actual coin was minted in the denomination until Henry VII’s coin, which is known as a testoon. Henry VIII also minted testoons; it was not until Edward VI that the coin was called a shilling. The shilling equaled twelve pence, and there were 12 shillings in a pound.

The oldest coin in my set is this shilling from Queen Elizabeth I. It is from 1560-1561, and shows traces of luster in protected areas. This is a choice circulated coin of a type known for weak strikes - hence the weak devices. Bob Campbell took these true-to-hand pictures.



The next coin in my set is from King Charles I, dated 1639. For those of you keeping score, I do not yet have King James I, who reigned between Elizabeth I and Charles I. The coinage of Charles I is a long, tumultuous, and fascinating study, ranging from crudely struck pieces such as this one, to fine pieces of incredible artistry, to intriguing pieces struck during the English Civil War.



I do not yet own the pieces from the Commonwealth, Cromwell, Charles II, James II, or William & Mary. My next piece is from William III’s sole reign, after the death of his co-ruler Mary II. I love the serious die clashing on this piece, and the gorgeously toned surfaces. The excellent pictures are from Bob Campbell.




Next we make a considerable jump to this 1707 shilling from Queen Anne. The coin is in lower grade, and will be upgraded eventually.



This 1723 is from King George I. He was the first in a very long line of Georges. This coin too will probably be upgraded at some point.



This 1758 from King George II came from a British friend of mine.


I'm a big fan of the first of two major King George III types. This 1787 is the most common example of this type, although there are numerous varieties. This is a very choice example, with dark, pleasing surfaces.



The second major type of King George III saw a redesign of all coinage of Great Britain. This shilling is much smaller in diameter than previous types.



King George IV had 3 major types, but the other two are very hard to find in pleasing condition and were only minted for a couple of years each. I might choose to add them later, but right now they are not part of my set. Because his reign was so short, shillings of George IV are rather difficult to locate in choice EF condition.



King William IV is one of the hardest monarchs to find in this condition - gem cameo circulated. Shillings of his were only minted for 4 years, and he had a short reign. This shilling is one of the highlights of my set.

 

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Queen Victoria is one of the longest reigning monarchs in history, and the longest reigning monarch ever in Britain. She reigned from 1837 to 1901. This first type of hers is known as the Young head, and is by far the longest running type of hers. This example is a somewhat lower grade than the rest of my set, and will be upgraded eventually.



For her Jubilee celebration (50 years on the throne), Queen Victoria had the coinage redesigned with the Jubilee head. This type lasted from 1887 to 1892. There are actually two subtypes of the Jubilee head - small head (1887-1889) and large head (1889 -1892, of which this coin is an example).



After the Jubilee head came the Old Head, which lasted until Queen Victoria's death.



Victoria was succeeded by King Edward VII, whose reign was considerably shorter than hers.



Over the reign of King George V, the silver in the shilling was debased from .925 to .500, and a couple of minor redesigns took place. I don't really care about getting each of these minor variations, and will only have one example of George V. Presently, I have a low grade example - my first shilling.



King George VI (finally, the last of the Georges) also had several minor changes to the coinage which won't be represented in my set: midway through the reign, the already debased silver was replaced by copper-nickel in 1947. With the loss of India in 1948, the King could no longer claim "IND IMP" on his coinage, so that was removed. A further innovation on the shillings of King George VI is the presence of two concurrent types - shillings with the English lion, shown here....



And shillings with a Scottish lion, shown here.



Queen Elizabeth II was the last monarch to mint shillings, which continued until decimalization in 1970. She also minted English shillings....



And Scottish shillings.

 

nice!

 

I really like the martlett on the first Shilling of Elizabeth I, and congrats on your collection!

 

I'm in the process of doing the same thin, but my Liz I shilling is nowhere near as good as yours I might upgrade later, once I've finished putting them all together (which may take a while considering how stupidly expensive Philip and Mary shillings are)...

 

Excellence! Wonderful!! Nice!!!:hail::hail::hail::hail:

 

A wonderful idea for a collection, and your's is off to a brilliant start :hail:

 

Some nice coins there physics-fan3.14, I particullarly like your jubilee issue Queen Victoria shilling, are you planning on purchasing the smaller ead version as well?

 

Very nice!!!!

 

very nice collection!! :thumb::thumb:

 

By the way, I decided to include the 5p pieces in my collection, both old size and new, on account of the fact that they are the direct descendants of the shilling and have the same face value. I don't know what you would think of that....

 

Love your collection physics-fan3.14

Did you mean, 20 shillings in the pound ?

 

Very nice collection Jason. I had no idea you were so far along with it. Great idea!!

 

That's a terrific collection. I'm sure your guests enjoy seeing the coins and it must generate a lot of discussion. Enjoyed seeing them. Thanks.

 

excellent

I clicked the little button to the top right & rated this thread excellent.
Thanks for the post.

 

Wow.... Not only an outstanding collection, but a concise history lesson to go along with it.

Hopefully some day I'll get there...
(Probably not considering I've just started collecting, but I can always hope).

 

Nice collection!
Congratulations！

 

A beautiful, beautiful set.

I had problems with this quote, however:

Weren't there always 20 shillings to a pound and 21 to a guinea?

g.

Addendum: With the new layout, I didn't see Ocha's post on 5/26. Sorry.
Nevertheless, i love the portraits on British (and Roman) coins. A great piece of history to be found with those coins.

 

Wonderful coins, gentlemans!
And the one coin from me.

 

That is a very nice selection of 1/- and I think the idea of adding the 5p is great, now if you want to expand why not add Colonial shillings to the mix :smile

1918m 1/- One Shilling Coat of arms George V Mint mark M = Melbourne


British East Africa 1/- Shilling 1941 Mount Kilimanjaro & prowling lion King George VI


Rhodesia 1964 1/-=10c Coat of arms QEII