Henry VIII (1509-1547) Silver Testoon – A rarity struck just before Henry 8 death, it could also have continued to be struck after Henry 8 death 1546-1547, Bristol 2 years minting under (WS MOMOGRAM of Sir William Sharington) *HENRIC 8 D G ANGL FRA Z HIB REX Ornate style with roses and pierced quatrefoils in legends. Pellet in lower left of double rose. Bristol Local dies, mm. -/WS monogram, CIVITAS BRISTOLIE, 6.88g, (S.2368, N.1843). A rose crowned between the letters; H. R. also crowned, the legend being CIVITAS BRISTOLIE, with three triple florets before each word. M. M. WS in monogram. It was, therefore, struck at the time when William Sharington was chief officer of the mint at Bristol. Bristol shillings have were not described in any of the works on the English coinage before 1855. The coin is the fourth coinage, or that of the 36th year of Henry VIII., being identical, in all respects, with the London Testoon of that year, except in the name of the town and the mint mark. This BRISTOL TESTOON is a full round problem free flan with a clear and almost fully struck up portrait, a rarity. Maybe the overall finest know specimen. (Only a few were left in circulation mostly shaved/clipped and displayed weakness in large areas) Provenance: Seaby's in the 1960s, purchased Bristol 1799-1822? Hoards: Testoons of Henry VIII are, as one would expect, not represented, having been drawn out of circulation by a series of government decrees issued on 10 April 1548, 31 January 1549 and 22 May 1549. (Why should they be horded as they were debased and would not be horded, Bristol Testoons had been replaced with smaller currency as the government replaced coinage of debased Testoons with coins of full value) The British Museum hold 45 Coins struck at London & 4 at Bristol (Papers done on H8 Testoons incl. Jacobs fail to detail Testoons struck at Bristol due to lack of specimens. Sir William Sharington counterfeited 12’000 gbp Testoons and admitted to this act in the Bristol mint and clipped/shaved a further 4’000 gbp from these coins. He was found guilty and all his assets were taken from him, after this he was pardoned and his assets restored to him. All the Testoons were withdrawn at 100% value and replaced by Groats or smaller currency or gold. The Testoons had therefore 100% full bullion value and the people lost no money. It is noted the Kings uncle Sir Thomas Seymour Lord High Admiral enabled this traitorous act to take place. Sir William Sharington (more detailed information) He served as Member of Parliament for Heytesbury in 1545 and for Bramber in 1547. He was knighted at the coronation of King Edward VI on 20 February 1547.He then became one of the two knights of the shire for Wiltshire. Apart from his interests in land, Sharington was also a merchant and owned several ships trading out of Bristol. He is known to have bought wool from all parts of Wiltshire and was also active as a moneylender. By 1548, Sharington had begun to defraud the Bristol mint by making coins too light and also by minting more coins than had been ordered, keeping false records to fend off discovery. According to his later confession, he had been afraid that his minting activity would leave him out of pocket. He may also have been anxious about the costs of his development at Lacock. As a result, Sharington became involved in a plot by Thomas, Lord Seymour, to launch an armed uprising, overthrow the government of Seymour's brother Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, and capture the boy king Edward VI. Sharington had sought the protection of Seymour in the event of the discovery that he was profiting dishonestly from his office at the mint, and Seymour persuaded Sharington to supply funds for his plot. He asked Sharington whether he could make £10,000, enough money to keep ten thousand armed men in action for a month, and Sharington had said he could and that Seymour "should lack no money". However, the plot was discovered and in January 1549, both men were arrested, Sharington on charges of coining base money, clipping, and other frauds.[12] Sharington confessed, blaming Seymour, and suffered an attainder, forfeiting his landed estates and being ejected from his seat in parliament, while Seymour was beheaded. The reason stated for Sharington's attainder was that he had coined Testoons for personal gain. However, all Testoons of the period struck in quantity by all English mints were produced in base silver. In saving his neck, Sharington had successfully sought the help of Francis Talbot, 5th Earl of Shrewsbury, and of Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, and had pleaded with Somerset himself. Without Thomas Seymour, they saw Sharington as no political threat to them, and he was also helped by Hugh Latimer, who referred to him in a sermon preached before the king during Lent of 1549, calling him "an honest gentleman, and one that God loveth... a chosen man of God, and one of his elected". In November 1549 Sharington was pardoned, and on the payment of £12,867, he even recovered his estates. jeff www.petitioncrown.com https://www.facebook.com/petitioncrowncoin
Very, very, very cool ... thanks for sharing *rats* => I don't have any Uber-cool Henry-VIII coins ... the only coin I have from this period is an Italian job ... LORRAINE, City of Metz, AR Gros Provincial. Metz (évêché). Civic issues 1415-1540 A.D. Diameter: Weight: 2.93 grams Obverse: S’ · STEPh’ · PROTh’ · m’ · (rosette stops), St. Étienne kneeling left; civic coat-of-arms of Metz to left and right; manus Dei above (two stars above the divine hand and a under the knees of the Saint) Reverse: (shield) BИDICTV’ · SIT : nOmЄ’ · DNI’ · nRI’ · IhV’ · XPI’ ·/GROSVS (rosette) mETE (annulet and double annulet stops), cross pattée; star in each quarter ... man, your coin is soooo cool (yah, it has now landed high on the ol' wish-list) ... thanks so much for posting that winner!! *stevex6 self-edit* Ooops, after re-reading your thread, my chances of having one of those babies is pretty slim ... ummm, are you related to AncientJoe? Cheers => amazing coin (congrats)
I need not point out that I don't have one either but if you really want a Henry VIII you can get other issues at a more reasonable rate. I always wanted one of the facing bust types but they are poor metal and wear poorly so low priced examples tend to be broken or just plain ugly. I settled for a 2d that was bought from a Frank Robinson sale in the 1990's but, since I was hardcore on the definition of 'ancient' back then, did not get accessioned for several years by which time I lost the invoice. I have no idea how much I paid. In those days I bid more than now (I was working then) but not wildly. It dates to the earlier years when he was busy being chubbier than it appears in the HBO series about him. The TC on the reverse refers to Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury who was instrumental in the separation from the Roman Church at the time of the Anne Boleyn marriage. I might suggest checking with your wife before buying anything but especially something connected with a guy anxious for an upgrade wife.
awesome ... thanks for your help, Doug (yah, I kinda got spun around for a sec) ... ... I'm glad to hear that the "common man" can score a Henry-VIII (cheers) => oh, but again, and again => sweet coin Swk!! (thanks)
here is a facing bust type,as doug rightly said not the best of coins-this is a groat with the mint mark E at the time the mint on tower hill was not able to keep up with demand so a small mint was opened in southwark and john York was put in charge-he used the E mint mark,eboracum the roman name for the city of york
It could be a bit of a stretch to have prosecuted and meted the usual punitive action for forgery in that era, well given that Henry VIII got the moniker "Old Coppernose" for the debasement of the coin into billon and the coppery appearance of the debased coin after a period of circulation.
Great thanks for your replies - The TC on the reverse refers to Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury great piece. Please keep writing. jeff just click to see this FB page https://www.facebook.com/petitioncrowncoin
thanks for telling me about Wikimedia you r great on the forum Henry VIII (1509–1547) Henry VIII testoon The testoon was struck in quantity during the last part of the reign of Henry VIII, with The Tower, Southwark, and Bristol mints producing testoons in 1544–1551. These testoons were made in the very poor base silver in this period, and are known as base testoons. The coins were struck after Henry's death in 1547, at The Tower, Southwark, and at Bristol. Ledgend BRISTOLLIE and BRISTOLIE on reverse. BRISTOLIE are extremley rare and were struck pre and post death Henry VIII 1547 with WS monogram in ledgend. [one was recorded pre WW2 at 6.89gms fully round, said to be from BRISTOL used as evidence at the trial of William Sharington] The mint-marks for these testoons are as follows: TOWER (London) two lis OR lis OR pellet in annulet Southwark S OR E Bristol WS (for William Sharington) The coins from Southwark have the reverse legend "CIVITAS LONDON" (City of London) and the Bristol coins the legend "CIVITAS BRISTOLLIE" (City of Bristol) or later "CIVITAS BRISTOLIE" (City of Bristol) The obverse of these coins shows a facing bust of Henry VIII and the reverse side, a crowned rose with [WS] in ledgend. Very Rare are any BRISTOL testoons which are full, round and not clipped or shaved.
Thank u forum you have answered many issues for me. - Here you have the finest known London Testoon - The BRISTOL will join this in the tray. Henry VIII, third coinage, Testoon, 7.67g., Tower, m.m. lis, group A, bust 1, crowned bearded bust of king facing, with prominent sidelocks, wearing mantle with collar of fur, henric viii di gra agl fra z hib rex, rev., large crowned rose, crowned h r at sides, posvi devm adivtorivm mevm, lombardic lettering, Roman m, saltire/double saltire stops, two double saltires after mevm (Jacob O.1/R.1 ; N.1841; S.2364), a beautiful specimen, on an exceptionally full round flan, the detail fully clear and struck up, extremely fine, excessively rare in this condition provenance: S Tyssen, Sotheby, 12 April 1802, lot 1707 (2 in lot) Lieut. Col. W Durrant, Sotheby, 19 April 1847,lot 379 Rev. E J Shepherd, Sotheby, 22 July 1885, lot 218 £32-10-0 ('a remarkably fine specimen of this scarce piece') S Rostron, Sotheby, 16 May 1892, lot 119 £35-0-0 ('in matchless condition, and of great rarity in thisstate, said to be the finest known') J G Murdoch, Sotheby, 31 March 1903, lot 443 £40-10-0 Spink Numismatic Circular, July 1942, no.15406 £45 The first testoons of Henry VIII, the 9 oz fine issue reading henric VIII, are struck in finer metal but in lower relief than the subsequent issues. They are rare in absolute terms and extremely so in a high state of preservation. This example has long been regarded as unrivaled. It may be compared with the Shuttlewood example (Spink Auction 151, lot 155, from the same obverse die also from the Murdoch sale(lot 444 £12-0-0)), itself one of the finest known. In his annotated copy of the splendid 1892 Rostron catalogue J S Henderson notes against lots 119 & 120 (a base silver 'Holbein portrait' testoon which realised £11-0-0) ' These shillings are quite matchless as to condition in any collection; 119 was bought for Mr Murdoch; 120 for me; they are both now in my possession' J.S.H. Henderson bequeathed his collection to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge in 1933 but while the acquisition catalogue lists Rostron lot 120 does not include Rostron lot 119. If Henderson purchased this coin at the Murdoch sale but subsequently parted with it, it would explain most of the long gap in the provenance between 1903 and the Spink Numismatic Circular listing in 1942.
I just love well researched articles like these. I do not at present have any coins of Henry Vlll, but one day I hope to obtain some from this most interesting period of time.
I remember a period when I was a salesman, I would stop at every antique shop and ask what old coins they had and dreamed of getting a Henry 8 Testoon. NO LUCK. jeff
Three wives - on both English and Irish coins H K - Katherine of Aragon H A - Anne Boleyn H I - Jayne Seymour Thereafter the coins that carried the initials carry a H R (Rex in place of the wife's initial). There are several explanations going around - in my opinion the most obvious is that the fourth wife (Anne of Cleves) required a repeat of the A already used for Anne Boleyn - as would wives 5 and 6 (Kathryn Howard and Katherine Parr) have to repeat the use of the K. So the 'face saving' argument has always seemed to me the most straightforward explanation. The initials are carried by two English coins; the gold crown of the double rose and its half, and by two Irish coins; the silver harp groat and its half. The first, second and fourth are rare and expensive but the Irish harp groat is fairly common and moderately priced (comparatively). Of these the last coin, the Irish half harp groat occurs with the three wives but not with the later H R (pending future discovery, of course). This is my H & I harp groat - the Seaby/Spink plate coin and probably the finest known : And this is my H & A half groat - not the finest known but one of only 7 or 8 extant : (note that the smaller half groat uses similar sized letters for the initials so you can tell that it's a half without a scale because of how they fill the area either side of the harp - very useful to avoid buying a rare half on Ebay and getting a groat in the post - I've counted at least 3 groats listed as halves - unfortunately never the other way around). Sorry I don't have a photo of a H & K or a H & R to hand. The Bristol testoon is pretty nice - but the London one is really spectacular, I didn't know that there was a surviving example as nice as that, most that I have viewed have been very unattractive and still fetched very good prices. JSL.
