Printed Auction 44

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Closed March 12, 2025
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  1. Winning Losing Won Lost Watching Available in aftersale  
    Exceptionally full and complete portrait
    A44, Lot 194:

    Elizabeth I. 1558-1603. AR crown. 30.21 gm. 44 mm. Seventh Issue (May 15, 1602—March 24, 1603). Tower mint. 1602. Her crowned half-length bust, wearing a decorated dress with ruff, holding a scepter in her right hand and an orb in front of her left shoulder, facing left; :2: +ELIZABETH: D: G: ANG: FRA: ET: HIBER: REGINA: around / Shield divided by long cross fourchée over a square-topped shield; :2: POSV—DEVM: AD—IVTORE—M: MEVM: around. S. 2582A. N. 2012. BCW 2-1:2-a. Near Extremely Fine; fresh metal with subdued iridescence; an exceptional portrait with full detail and a well struck profile. Evenly centered, overall well struck though the upper right quadrant of the shield on the reverse is weak. This section of the reverse corresponds to the profile of Elizabeth on the obverse and the metal filled the die for the obverse leaving a bit less fabric than needed for the reverse. Some annealing (softening the hardness) flaws—typical of this 1602 issue; no wear or damage that came after the piece was struck. A small area of scratches — barely visible in hand — and a slight void around the front of the crown were in the flan before the coin was struck. The line of the front edge of the crown is on top of the scratch line indicating that the scratch was shallow enough to not affect the line when the coin was struck. Very rare; the 1602 issue was struck from just a single pair of dies, vs. the 6 obverse and reverse dies used to strike the 1601.

    Ex Spink (tag in May Sinclair's hand included).

    This is a superb example of the rare "2" mintmark crown issued in very small numbers in 1602 in the last year of Elizabeth's reign.

  2. Winning Losing Won Lost Watching Available in aftersale  

    First Renaissance style portrait

    A44, Lot 215:

    SCOTLAND. James III. 1460-1488. AR base silver groat, issue of 1471-1483 (.770). 1.97 gm. 22 mm. First Renaissance style portrait. Edinburgh mint. His realistic portrait, half right; tressure of eight arcs, trefoils on cusps; +IΛCOBVS : REX : DEI : SCOTORVM (the SCOTORV legend is listed in Burns as the eight arc variety) / Long cross with thistles opposing in two quarters and small mullets opposing in the other two (mullet in upper right quadrant variety; +VIL LAxE DINB VRGh. S. 5270. Burns II: p. 116:12/13; pl. xliv:582-3. Very Fine; attractive example with a clear portrait. Very rare, particularly in appealing condition.

    The Leland Scott Collection. With early hand-written tag

    Also ex Spink with older tag (£650).

     

    The first “real person” portrait on a British coin

    (As featured in Coin World Magazine, March 2025)

    In 1471 the young Scottish king, James III, had his youthful 30 year old image featured on the obverse of a base silver groat. This was the first Renaissance style portrait of a British king shown as he actually looked, and it took until the Fifth Coinage of Henry VII, very early in the 1500’s, for his realistic profile to appear on English coinage. British coins had long featured a front-facing two-dimensional image that made no effort at visually discriminating the kings. This change to an actual image was an important mark of England’s entry into the Renaissance.

    The Renaissance (French “rebirth”) replaced the medieval world view, and was a time of rediscovering the classical learning of the ancient world. The exact time when it began is a source of scholarly debate but in the 14th century literature like the Canterbury Tales, the Decameron, and Dante’s Inferno were reflecting this humanism, and drawing and painting eventually followed.

    The reverse of this James III groat began the use of thistle heads on Scottish coinage. James III is generally considered the founder of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, a Scottish Order of Chivalry that is still functioning. In modern times, the current king, Charles III, is reported to have awarded it five times so far in his reign.

 

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