Anne (1702 - 14) Read about Anne

Guineas

WAu-7818: 1714 Queen Anne Milled Full Gold Guinea. Post Scottish union, third draped bust. The milling on the edge of the coin was a safeguard against clipping which had been not just a thorn in the side of every hammered period, but rather a stake. The practise of clipping officially ended with the introduction of milled coinage in 1662. The Guinea was so named because some of the gold bullion used came from the country of Guinea, via the Africa Company. It was a 20 shilling denomination, directly replacing the short-lived 1662 gold Broad of 20 shillings of the earlier Charles II. The racehorse aficionados among you are probably crying out “21 shillings, 21 shillings!” but revaluation of a guinea to that amount took place in 1717 under George 1^st. Incidentally, there were times prior to 1717 where the actual value of a guinea (and remember, the value of any coin, guineas very much included, was entirely based on the precious metal content) was even higher than 21 shillings due to market fluctuations in the value, or spot price of gold. It won’t have escaped your notice that with Queen Anne gold coinage in particular, when they do come up, they are almost always HALF guineas. It really is hard work finding full guineas. Spink 3574. Ex Spink with associated Spink tickets. Interestingly, Spink now appear to use the Ellerby Hoard as a classification guide – their classification is “Ellerby 181-190”, meaning lots 181 through to 190 in the Ellerby Hoard sale that they conducted were all 1714 Queen Anne Guineas. For context, the Ellerby Hoard is a hoard of 266 17th-18th century hammered and milled gold coins found in a manganese-mottled salt-glazed stoneware vessel in the garden of a house in Ellerby, East Riding of Yorkshire in 2019. Hoard estimate £200,000; hammer £750,000. As this guinea is ex Spink (but not ex Ellerby), I think it only fair to compare. The Ellerby coin that I’ve attached here, lot 187, is clearly not quite as good grade as the one on offer on this website. Never-the-less, both attracted a Spink grade of “pleasing VF” (NGC got a little carried away and graded it About Uncirculated!) The Ellerby coin sold for £4,000 after commissions, and that was several years ago with the market ever moving upwards. Obviously there’s a small premium for provenance to consider as it was very good provenance. This coin: no mount marks, some lustre, well struck up. £3,275

Crowns

WCA-6786: 1707 Scottish (Edinburgh mint) Queen Anne Silver Full Crown. Plain angles, post union with Scotland. SEXTO edge, Spink 3600. £275

Maundy

WCA-6833: 1709 Queen Anne Tiny Maundy Silver Penny. Post Scottish Union. Attractively toned (although perhaps not quite to the extent the high powered image suggests) and nice grade. £79

Commemorative Medals

WCA-5118: 1702 Queen Anne “Accession” Silver Medal. The dawning of a new era – mutual trust between monarch and subjects and to be fair, it was. Ultimately a very short concept though. £295

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