Great Britain (1610-11) unite Fr-234
This specimen was lot 31552 in Heritage sale 3067 (Long Beach, September 2018), where it sold for $1,200. The catalog description[1] noted, "Great Britain: James I (1603-25) gold Unite ND (1610-11) AU, Tower mint. Fourth bust, Bell mm. The attractiveness of this Unite cannot be downplayed. Creamy original surfaces grace the deep gold planchet, the strike strong and central gifting excellent detail to James's portrait, its eye appeal superb. The only detraction lies within some irregularity to the reverse which has created four daylight spots in the flan; to the cataloger, this appears to not be damage but the result of a poorly melted planchet including voids which could not be reached by the dies, leaving concave areas of rough gold. However, this has barely affected the obverse design and indeed gives a rather unusual, dynamic look to the coin. Altogether, an attractive and desirable Unite. From the Collection of a Berkshire Gentleman." This unite of James' second issue was accompanied by a rose ryal (Fr-230), angel, half angel (Fr-233), spur ryal (Fr-231), double crown (Fr-235), crown (Fr-238) and half crown (Fr-237). With the accession of James I we drop "England" as the country name and adopt the current "Great Britain."
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 9 g, 0.917 fine gold.
Catalog reference: Fr-234; KM-45, S-2619, North-2084.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- Lobel, Richard, Mark Davidson, Allan Hailstone and Eleni Calligas, Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins, 1066 to Date, London: Coincraft, 1995.
- Skingley, Philip, ed., Standard Catalogue of British Coins: Coins of England & the United Kingdom, 46th edition, London: Spink & Son, 2011.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- [1]Cristiano Bierrenbach, Warren Tucker and Sam Spiegel, 2018 September 6-11 Long Beach Expo World Coins & Ancient Coins Signature Auction #3067, Dallas: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2018.
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