File:Great Britain G87-3065o.jpg

This specimen was lot 3065 in Goldberg sale 87 (Los Angeles, September 2015), where it sold for $3,642.50. The catalog description^[1] noted,

"Great Britain. Groat, ND. S.2156; N.1679. Richard III, 1483-1485. London mint. Mint mark boar's head. Little sign of wear. Obverse, stylized facing bust of King, reverse quartered design, CIVITAS LONDON in center. This coin is struck a little off-center which actually renders the King's name bold and full, and the portrait of the King is exceptional. The famous (or indeed infamous) King Richard III only reigned for 2 years or so, but alongside Edward VIII, Victoria, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and a couple of others, Richard is one of England's most fascinating and controversial past monarchs. All his coinage types are rare, and with a catalogue price of around $3500 in basic VF, this Groat is no exception. EF-45 (not in holder).

We may never know if Richard was the evil murderer depicted in Shakespeare's plays or really a competent administrator whose throne was seized by Henry VII. As history is written by the victors, there may have been a certain bias shown in analyses of Richard's character over the last 500 years or so, and scholars now tend to minimize the evidence for Richard's crimes as Tudor propaganda. The son of Richard Duke of York, he was created Duke of Gloucester by his brother King Edward IV, and distinguished himself in the Wars of the Roses. On Edward IV's death in 1483 he became protector to his nephew King Edward V, but soon secured the crown for himself on the plea that Edward IV's sons were illegitimate. He proved a capable ruler, but the suspicion that he had murdered Edward V and his brother undermined his popularity. In 1485, Henry Earl of Richmond, later King Henry VII, raised a rebellion and Richard was defeated and killed at Bosworth near Leicester. He was buried and his original tomb was probably destroyed in the 16th century Reformation. His body was lost for over 500 years until an archaeological dig in a Leicester car park in 2012 found him, and Richard III was re-buried in a ceremony at Leicester Cathedral on 26 March 2015."