Sovereign Rarities

Auction 2  –  24 September 2019

Sovereign Rarities, Auction 2

British, World and Ancient Coins

Tu, 24.09.2019, from 11:00 AM CEST
The auction is closed.

Description

Mary (1553-54), fine gold Angel of Ten Shillings, class I, St Michael spearing dragon right, linear circle and legend surrounding with annulet stops both sides, mint mark pomegranate after Queen's name, mARIAo+o D; G; AnG; FRA; Z: hIB; REGI; retrograde z, rev. quartered shield of arms on flat decked ship sailing right, M and rose above shield, Ao DnO; FACTV; EST; ISTVD? Z. EST: mIRABI', weight 5.17g (Schneider 711; N.1958; S.2490). Toned, weaker strike on reverse with a fully struck reverse, good very fine and rare.

The pomegranate was the family badge of Aragon, and as Mary Tudor was the daughter of Henry VIII’s first wife Catherine of Aragon, no doubt its use as a mint mark on her coinage seemed most apt.

The class I Angels of Mary Tudor feature gothic style lettering with annulet punctuation. Early accounts of the output of the coinage in this reign are missing, but based on the contemporary estimate of writers Challis and Harrison (1973) it would seem some £30,000 of face value of fine gold was produced with mint mark pomegranate which was divided between the fine Sovereign, Angel and extremely rare Half Angel.

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Price realized --
Starting price 4'900 GBP
Estimate 7'000 GBP
The auction is closed.
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