England (1544-47) groat

Goldberg sale 103, lot 2969

Künker Auction 425, lot 1662

This specimen was lot 2969 in Goldberg sale 103 (Los Angeles, February 2018), where it sold for $141. The catalog description^[1] noted, "Great Britain. Groat, ND. Henry VIII, 1509-1547. Third coinage. Facing bust. Legends weakly struck. Toned. PCGS graded VF-20." The groat, or fourpence, was introduced in the late middle ages as increased commerce required a larger coin than the silver penny. It was gradually superseded in the seventeenth century by the sixpence but was struck until Victoria's reign and still appears in the Maundy sets. This is a product of the Tower Mint in London; other mints producing groats included Southwark (S.2371), Bristol (S.2372), Canterbury (S.2373) and York (S.2374). Debasement was rapid and severe in this period. The second specimen was lot 1662 in Künker Auction 425 (Osnabrück, July 2025), where it sold for €480 (about US$680 including buyers' fees). The catalog description^[1] noted,

"EUROPÄISCHE MÜNZEN UND MEDAILLEN · ENGLAND, AB 1707 GROSSBRITANNIEN, AB 1801 VEREINIGTES KÖNIGREICH Henry VIII, 1509-1547. Groat o. J. (1544/1547), London. Third Coinage (Bust 2). Münzzeichen Lilie und die Rückseite mit "Kugel in Ringen" in den Enden der Gabeln. Kl. Randfehler, sehr schön-vorzüglich. (kingdom of England, Henry VIII, 1509-47, undated groat, London mint, third coinage, bust two, lily mintmark. Minor edge defect, very fine to extremely fine.)"

Recorded mintage: unknown.

Specification: silver, the second specimen 2,68 g.

Catalog reference: the first specimen S.2369, the second specimen S.2370.

Source:

^[1]Goldberg, Ira, Larry Goldberg, John Lavender, Yifu Che, Jason Villareal and Stephen Harvey, Goldberg Sale 103: the Pre-Long Beach Auction, Los Angeles: Goldberg Coins and Collectibles, 2018.
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.
^[2]Künker, Fritz Rudolf, Horst-Rudiger Künker, Ulrich Künker and Andreas Kaiser, Katalog 425: Gold coins from the Medieval and Modern Times, from the Mohr family collection, e.g. | Silver coins, e.g. highlights of medallic art | German coins after 1871, Osnabrück: Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co., AG, 2025.

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England (1544-47) groat

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