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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;1934 Wreath Crown, post: 8082655, member: 76965&quot;]Remembered in history for beheading two of his wives and numerous other close friends and advisors, Henry VIII would have qualified as a modern-day psychopath. He seems to have been an individual devoid of trust, faith in his fellow human beings and honour.</p><p><br /></p><p>Yet we are fascinated by him and his coins are very collectible and almost universally desired. Who can say they weren&#039;t a little awestruck by his imposing portrait by Hans Holbein in his regal clothing and finery, an aggressive stance facing forward with legs slightly apart and clenched fists.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, during his time not only did he debase the coinage to pay for his expensive military campaigns but it seems the quality of the flans and strike took several steps backwards, in my opinion.</p><p><br /></p><p>He reintroduced the testoon, which had previously not proven to be very successful, but later and secretly debased not only the gold coins (including the sovereign) but also all silver issues first to 9 oz. all the way down to 4 oz. By my calculations that is only 25% silver content. This made it profitable for counterfeiters to strike these coins in very large numbers and so a very many testoons were produced, not only by the crown mints, but also by counterfeiters.</p><p><br /></p><p>In an attempt to end the counterfeiting and earn further profits for the crown, he demonetized the testoon in 1548 and these were recalled in exchange for the new coinage of 4 oz. purity. So a coin which was produced in large numbers was eventually melted down and recoined, making it a very scarce and collectible issue.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have been outbid on more occasions than I’d like to remember and thought history had repeated itself. But was pleasantly surprised to see it in my ‘items won’ folder. With their notoriously poor quality of metal and weakness of strike, I felt this one at least bears the full face of the monarch and enough of the Tudor Rose to make it worth having.</p><p><br /></p><p>Please post any related coins you may wish to.</p><p><br /></p><p><i><b>Henry VIII (1509-1547), Third coinage, Testoon, Southwark, mm. S on obv., E on rev (?)., double trefoil stops on obv., sleeve stops on rev., 5.71g/2h (N 1842; S 2367).</b></i></p><p><i><b><br /></b></i></p><p><i><b>[ATTACH=full]1403807[/ATTACH] </b></i></p><p><i><b><br /></b></i></p><p><i><b>[ATTACH=full]1403808[/ATTACH] </b></i>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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