England (1592-95) 1/2 pound Fr-215

Heritage sale 3030, lot 24077

Heritage sale 3029, lot 30118

The first 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, 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."

The second specimen was lot 30118 in Heritage sale 3029 (New York, January 2014), where it sold for $41,125. The catalog description^[1] noted,

"A Marvelous Portrait of 'Queen Bess' Elizabeth I gold Half Pound ND, MS63 NGC. Tower Mint, 6th Issue (of 1583-1600), 3rd gold Coinage (of 1593-1603), struck in 22ct 'crown gold' (of .917 fineness), Tun mm (minted 1592-95). A splendid example, lustrous across the flan, which is broad and of superb quality. The queen's portrait is magnificent in its details, as her face is clear, her crown crisp, her jeweled dress highly detailed, and her royal titles as large and bold as any seen by this cataloguer. Also, the outer beaded rim beyond the legend is much in evidence. The reverse is nearly as fine, but metal must go somewhere when struck under pressure. Thus three of the quadrants of the shield, though well struck, show ghosts of the six leopards passant, and some of the letters of the generally dramatic legend are also a bit soft and double struck. Notwithstanding, the crown and inner beading are unusually sharp, as are the queen's letters 'E R' to the sides of her royal crest. The luster is dazzling, and the color of the gold is sheer beauty. This long reign experienced an abundance of precious metal, the gold in large part being of Spanish origin-that is, captured from galleons headed back to Spain from the New World by English privateers. It was also received in trade, as Spain's new wealth caused a commercial boom across Europe; millions of gold and silver coins flowed from Spain to its trading partners in the Netherlands, and this money in turn was traded for English goods. There was a seemingly endless flow of gold in the 1590s, when Elizabeth's fine portrait graced her coins and proclaimed England's might at home and abroad, but centuries have passed and the great majority of these once common coins have perished or been abused. How few exist in this pristine condition!"

Both Friedberg and Lobel note this as fifth issue and it was accompanied by gold pounds (twenty shillings), crowns (five shillings) and half crowns (two shillings six pence).

Recorded mintage: unknown.

Specification: gold, 90 grains (5.82 g).

Catalog reference: S-2535, North-2009 (scarce), Fr-215.

Source:

• 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]Bierrenbach, Cristiano, Warren Tucker and David Michaels, Heritage World and Ancient Coins Auction 3030, featuring the RLM Collection, the Isaac Rudman Collection, the Hans Cook Collection and the Collection of Donald E. Bently, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2013.
• 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.

Link to:

• England (1592-93) sovereign Fr-209
• England (1585-87) ryal Fr-210
• England (1585-87) angel Fr-211
• 1592 sixpence
• (1592-95) gold crown, sixth issue
• (1592-93) sovereign, sixth issue
• England (1593-94) pound Fr-214
• England (1594-96) pound Fr-214
• Coins and currency dated 1592
• return to coins of Great Britain