File:England c1592 half pound obv H3030-24077.jpg

This specimen was lot 24077 in Heritage sale 3030 (New York, January 2014), where it sold for $14,100. The catalog description^[1] noted,

"An Older Portrait in Bejeweled Dress Elizabeth I (1558-1603) gold Half Pound ND, S-2535, North-2009 (scarce), 6th Issue of 1583-1600, London, crown-gold (.916 fine), Tun mm (1592-95), AU55 NGC, a choice coin having residual luster but, more importantly, a detailed image of the queen, from a sharp and even strike, and rich reddish gold toning with hues of mauve iridescence. The flan is round but slightly imperfect on the rims (not at all unusual for this era), of sound alloy without cracks or flaws. More sharply detailed on both the queen's image and her royal shield than on any other specimen we can locate at auction in the past five or more years.

The splendid engraving is almost fully presented on this wonderful coin made near the end of this reign as the "virgin queen" aged. Her youthful beauty had been fading for some years when this half-pound, of considerable buying power at the time, came into being. For youth she substituted elegance in her person, wearing exotic bejeweled dresses of great cost - and we see the very thing here on this coin, over which her long hair tumbles. The ages-old legend on the reverse continued to be used, its Latin fully inscribed here and meaning "The shield of faith shall protect her" - but such was no longer so, as it had been hoped for by her ill-fated brother and older sister. What most protected Elizabeth the queen was her cunning, her powerful mind, and the seeming invincibility of her Crown. Her brother and sister had none of these qualities. As Elizabeth walked the via media throughout her life and reign, no one at Court dared oppose her on any decision. She never revealed her logic nor her private beliefs. She commanded. Thus did she fare well for 45 years as monarch. Only the full-sized gold Pound, of the same design as this coin, shows the monarch in such lifelike detail. It is a Renaissance portrait in gold perhaps matched in quality numismatically only by the superb bronzes of Italian master engravers, whose art without doubt inspired Elizabeth's own engravers - John Lonyson and, for the image we see here, Sir Richard Martin and son, and probably unknown but able assistants. They captured the spirit of their age in the queen's visage."