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E-Auction 47 Lot 169
Edward VI. 1547-1553. AR shilling. 5.82 gm. 33 mm. Third period, fine silver issue. Tun i.m. 1551-1553. His crowned facing bust; rose to left, XII to right / Arms over long cross fourchée. S. 2482. N. 1937. Very Fine; attractive coin on a generous round flan, lightly toned over pleasing surfaces; old scratches in the obverse field in front of the portrait.
"The [shilling] as a unit of measure had been around since Anglo-Saxon days, but an actual coin did not come about until the 14-year-old king’s portrait appeared on the fine silver coinage of 1551 (Lot 169) that replaced the seriously debased—and disrespected—coinage left over from his spendthrift father. The precocious and erudite young Edward’s writings* note his May 1551 criticism of London leaders raising prices because “the teston cried down from 12d. to 10d. and the groat from 4d. to 3d.”
In July 1551 Edward commented on “a proclamation signed for a shortening of the fall of the money to that day” and the proclamation was delivered to sheriffs instructing them not to open it until July 8. Subsequent notes written by Edward expand on the problem and by September Edward seemed “to be regarding the existing, and in varying degrees, debased coinage as the bullion from which coinage of a new standard would now be minted.”
Later in the month he noted that it was “Agreed that the stamp of the shilling and the sixpence should be: of one side a king painted to the shoulders, in Parliament robes, and with a chain of the Order.” This is the coin listed as Lot 169 in our current sale—an attractive example that got scratched somewhere in the past 472 years.
*(Quotations taken from Jordan, W.K. Editor. The Chronicle and Political Papers of King Edward VI. Cornell University Press. 1966)"
From an article sent to our email list on September 3rd, which can be viewed here.
