Henry VII (1485-1509), Sovereign of Twenty Shillings, Group ...

Estimate

£100,000 - £150,000

Henry VII (1485-1509), Sovereign of Twenty Shillings, Group IV (c.1502-1504), crowned robed figure of the King seated facing on ornate throne with high canopy breaking inner linear border, holding orb and sceptre, mintmark lis with legend following HENRICVS DEI GR? REX ?NGL ET FR?N DNS HIB N, double saltire stops. Rev quartered shield of arms upon Tudor rose, surrounded by beaded and linear tressure of ten arcs, beaded circle surrounding, initial mark dragon, reads IHESVS ?VTEM TR?NSIENS PER MEDIVM ILLORVM IB?T, 15.21g (S.2175; N.1692/1; Pott er & Winstanley type IV; SCBI 23 [Ashmolean], 79-80; Schneider Volume 1: 550). Lustrous rich toning with much of its original mint brilliance visible across the surfaces, a darker gold bloom around the periphery and recesses. Considerably well detailed, legends clear and many aspects of the design visible and impressive; the Kings expression pleasing as is the elaborate throne and pillars, some light scratching in places. Rev, clear defi nition in the Royal coat of arms and the large Tudor rose, all well struck up with few contact marks. A well balanced majestic coin, one of the best examples to have come onto the market in recent years.Ex. La Riviere and Kaufman Collection, Spink 124, Lot 1724, 18/11/1997.Ex. Christie's, lot 573, 26/2/1991.Ex. Conte Alessandro Magnaguti, P&P; Santamaria, Rome, lot 177, 5/10/1959.Ex. William Luard Raynes Collection, Glendining February 1950, Lot 69.Ex. G. W. Egmont Bieber Collection, Auction Sotheby, May 1889, Lot 411.The Sovereign of Henry VII was first struck in 1489 between the 28th October and November 1492,at the time the heaviest Gold coin issued by any monarch, issued at a fineness of 23ct 3 ½ gr. TheSovereign, so called because the monarch is portrayed in full length on the obverse, dates from this reign and has given its name to an issue that is still minted today as our standard gold coin. This early Sovereign sent out a message of stability after the turmoil of the recent wars, it also reinforced theimportance of excellence at the mint and the preservation of high standards and consistency. However, as Grierson points out, the actual diagnostics of the coin can be seen to be mimicking an earlier coin of the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I. The ‘Real d’Or’, struck in Dordrecht, Holland in 1487 twoyears earlier, can be interpreted as laying the foundation for the obverse design of our Sovereign inthat it features a crowned, facing ruler with sceptre, seated in full length on a Gothic throne and thereverse is a crowned coat of arms and imperial eagle. The first English Sovereign also features portrait of the monarch, full length and seated on the obverse and the royal coat of arms on the reverse – placedon the double rose symbolising the Tudor dynasty and the union of York and Lancaster after the Wars of the Roses. The English Sovereign, issued by King Henry VII in 1489, ran through five variancesthroughout his reign, (see Pott er and Winstanley I-IV) and these Sovereigns represent “probably thepeak of Gothic medallic art” which, with the arrival at the mint of the engraver Alexander de Bruchsal,was ‘transformed and revitalized by the new ideas of the Renaissance’ (Pott er and Winstanley, ‘The Coinage of Henry VII.’ CNG – 9th. Oct. 2013). The Sovereigns of Henry VII are one of the key coins inEnglish Tudor numismatics, but also qualify as European renaissance pieces of art.