Great Britain 1670 5 guineas
This specimen was lot 21032 in Heritage sale 3010 (Boston, August 2010), where it sold for $25,300. The catalog description[1] noted,
"Charles II gold 5 Guineas 1670, S3328, 1st bust, 'V. Secundo' edge, AU55 NGC, fairly sharp strike on the portrait but the reverse shield is really crisp in all details, even on the four interlinked C's at the center, not many abrasions and all small, rims really clean, not real lustrous but some luster is certainly evident, and the whole has a pleasing golden tone. Fabulous fivers exist of this king, but they are really expensive. Here is an affordable and quite handsome piece, made just a scant three years after the milled 5-Guinea coinage began. The ordinary person in 1670 never saw one of these in his lifetime; they were sort of the 'gold credit cards' of their day, used at Court and for banking transactions. Can you imagine some Duke walking down Whitehall, perhaps to the Admiralty to conduct some statesmanship, his purse bulging with coins like this? Well, for the right bid, now it can be yours! From the Highlands Park Collection of British Coins."
Oliver Cromwell's death in September 1658 left a leadership vacuum which was quickly filled by inviting prince Charles back from exile to become Charles II. The first series of gold coins of his regime reverted to the old practice of not dating them and come in denominations of unite, double crown and crown. When milled coinage was introduced in 1663, these denominations were retired in favor of the guinea, its fractions and multiples. The guinea would be the basis for all gold issues until the reform of 1817 and took its name from the source of the original gold, the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa. This type is listed for 1668-78.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 41.75 g, 0.917 fine gold.
Catalog reference: S-3328; Fr-282; KM-430.1.
- 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.
- [1]Tucker, Warren, Scott Cordry and John Kraljevich, Heritage Sale 3010: World Coins, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2010.
- 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.
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