Great Britain (1615-16) thistle crown Fr-238
This specimen was lot 1792 in Sincona sale 94 (Zürich, October 2024), where it sold for 700 CHF (about US$970 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"GROSSBRITANNIEN Königreich, James I. 1603-1625. Thistle Crown n. d. (1615-1616), Tower Mint. Second coinage. Mintmark "tun". Sehr schön. Kleine Prägeschwäche. (kingdom of Great Britain, James I, 1603-25, undated thistle crown, circa 1615-16, Tower mint, second coinage, tun mintmark. Very Fine, Partly weakly struck.)"
This gold thistle crown of James' second issue was accompanied by a rose ryal (Fr-230), angel (Fr-232), unite (Fr-234), spur ryal (Fr-231), double crown (Fr-235), half angel (Fr-233), crown (Fr-236) and half crown (Fr-237). With the accession of James I we drop "England" as the country name and adopt the current "Great Britain." The regular "Britain" crown was five shillings; the thistle crown shown here was four shillings.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 1.92 g, 0.917 fine gold, this specimen 1.91 g.
Catalog reference: KM 37, Spink 2627, Fr-238.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- 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.
- 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.
- [1]Richter, Jürg, SINCONA Auction 94: World and Swiss Coins and Medals, SINCONA Bullion Auction, Zürich: SINCONA AG, 2024.
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