Tudors and Stuarts

This note continues the die studies of James I shillings, working backwards through the mintmarks of the second issue. Here the mintmark Trefoil is presented – issued 28th April 1613 to 20th October 1613. Though a scarce mintmark, six different obverse legends have been found (so far). With just one die pair duplicate the statistics are poor, suggesting there are many more dies to be found.

This note presents a 1703 VIGO shilling of Queen Anne with an unrecorded overdate 3 over 2. My thanks go to Alan Worby of MH Coins for the images and permission to publish. This prompted a quick search to see if any other specimens could be found. Online archives produced images of 74 specimens of sufficient quality to allow a die study of the reverse dies. A statistical analysis of the 16 different dies suggests that the die count is likely almost complete.

This note continues the die studies of James I shillings, working backwards through the mintmarks of the second issue. Here the mintmark Cinquefoil is presented – issued 20th October 1613 to 17th May 1615.

This short note shows that Charles I sixpence variety S2812 can include mintmark harp inaddition to portcullis. This had been suggested previously; here, a further coin using the samereverse die confirms the identification.

This note continues the die studies of James I shillings, working backwards through the mintmarks of the second issue. Here the mintmark Tun is presented – issued 17th May 1615 to 15th November 1616.

The coin presented here is a base shilling of Edward VI with a greyhound countermark that was recently offered for sale at auction without provenance and then withdrawn. The author recognised the piece as ex R.C. Lockett and traces its earlier provenance back through H. Webb Jr, T. Bliss and R.A. Hoblyn in 1906. Genuine countermarks are presented for comparison and other specimens with the false countermark are presented from F. Pridmore, the Forgery Cabinet at Baldwin’s and the British Museum. The latter has a ticket connecting the piece to the well-known counterfeiter and creator of concoctions in the early 1840s, Edward Emery.

Previous die studies have covered the third issue shillings (mintmarks Spur Rowel, Rose, Thistle, Lis and Trefoil) and the second issue (mintmark Plain Cross). This note tackles another of the rarer mintmarks, the Book, sometimes called Book on Lectern. The three obverse and two reverse dies were more than sufficient to strike the silver that resulted in the 9s 2d at the Trial of the Pyx on 15th May 1618. PREVIOUS ARTICLES BY GARY ODDIE ON JAMES I … A Die Study of James I Shillings – Second Issue, mm Plain Cross (Link) A Die Study of James I Shillings – Third Issue, mm Spur Rowell (Link) A Die Study of James I Shillings – Third Issue, Sixth Bust, mm Rose (Link) A Die Study of James I Shillings – Third Issue, Sixth Bust, mm Lis (Link) A Die Study of James I Shillings – Third Issue, Sixth Bust, mm Thistle (Link) A Die Study of James I Shillings –

read more A Die Study of James I Shillings – Second Issue, mm Book – Gary Oddie

This note continues the die studies of James I shillings, tackling some of the easier (rarer) mintmarks of the second issue first. Though shillings with mm plain cross are very rare, with only 9s1d of silver tried at the pyx, three obverse and two reverse dies have been found.

This note continues the die studies of James I shillings. Having found just two specimens from one pair of dies, it is a bit trivial, but this great rarity is included for completeness.