Charles II (1660 - 85) Read about Charles II
Hammered Gold
WAu-8088:
Charles II
Restoration Period Hammered Gold Crown.
First issue, initial mark Crown, circa very early in the 1660-62
hammered period. Obverse 3, reverse 3
dies. S.R. 3303, North 2757, Schneider
389, Bull 114 (plate coin). Pierced and
plugged (immediately to the left of the obverse initial mark / around the
letter R of the reverse – die rotation 10h).
I bought this as a nEF, unplugged coin because even though I’d looked
closely, I did not spot the plug. In
honesty, I still can’t place it with any high degree of certainty as it’s a top
rate job. If the paperwork (which came
to me after I’d bought the coin) stating the presence of the plug were to
become disassociated from this coin, I doubt anyone would ever notice – the
workmanship is that good. This extremely
late hammered coinage period of 1660-62, even though it spanned three issues,
was very much treading water and just really getting anything out there that
would reassure the public of the Restoration of the monarchy and the demise of
the Commonwealth. The quality of coinage
in general was not good and did deteriorate through the issues – you only have
to look at the hammered halfcrown issues to see that. Everyone at the mint was aware that hammered
coinage was dead in the water and that milled coinage was coming (indeed,
Blondeau was getting everything together, ready for production of his new
milled coinage, literally as this coin was being minted) so the dies were
mediocre at best, as was the actual execution of the coinage. And yet look at the state of this coin,
especially the obverse! What a
tremendous coin! Something else to bear
in mind: Blondeau needed all the silver and gold he could get his hands on for
the onset of milled coinage, and the country was still teetering on bankruptcy
after the Commonwealth, so very little bullion was actually put into the
hammered years. A very rare, attractive
and desirable coin. £4,850 RESERVED (30-12-24)
Tin with a Copper Plug
WCA-9042:
1684 Charles II
Tin Farthing - Choice. S.R. 3395,
Peck 532. This ill advised tin issue was initiated under Charles II in 1684 in an
attempt to help out the ailing Cornish tin industry. In 1692 it was gone, never to appear
again. These tin coins had an alarming
rate of wear from circulation. The Ferryman’s hoard of W&M tin coins from
the River Thames in the 1970’s was made up of 1690 through to 1692 tin coins.
There were no copper 1694 coins leading to the conclusion that the purse was
dropped into the Thames 1693 or earlier. Of the many coins, the 1690’s were all
very worn, the 1691’s quite worn and the 1692’s being at least somewhat worn.
The 1690’s coins could only have been in circulation for three years or so but
they were all very worn. Even the coins that had been in circulation for only
up to a year or so were worn. This illustrates just how hard it is to find high
grade tin coinage. As well as wear, the tin coinage corrodes in air and the
soil (tin was far too reactive a metal to be used for coinage, something it
took the mint 8 years to realise) so high grade examples, invariably out of the
Thames (anaerobic conditions), are at a premium - this coin must have been one
of those such coins. Counterfeiting was
clearly a consideration as every tin coin that left the mint had a copper plug
– designed as an anti counterfeiting measure.
Perhaps the Mint ought to have had similar considerations just a few
decades on, during the mid to late 1700’s, when towards the end of the century,
counterfeit (and we’re talking really obvious / very little effort re dies or
even the final product) “copper” coins literally outnumbered the genuine
coinage in circulation! The very best
grade example tin Charles II farthing I have ever had. The obverse and edge legend are
exceptional. You can even see the mint
adjustment marks on the obverse! £1,685
Hammered Silver
Sixpence
WCA-7624:
Charles II
Restoration Period Hammered Silver Sixpence. The rarer first issue with no inner circles
and no mark of value. Old crease. S.R. 3309.
A rare coin. £495
WCA-7110:
Charles II
Restoration Period Late Hammered Silver Sixpence. Initial mark Crown, 1660-62 but nearer 1662
as this is the last Third Issue. After
this, there were no more hammered coins struck for currency. S.R. 3323.
A decidedly handsome coin. £655
Pence
WCA-7032: Charles II “Restoration”
Period Hammered Silver Threepence.
Third issue, struck late on in that brief window of 1660-62, after which
hammered coinage was officially superseded by milled coinage. Large flan.
S.R. 3325. The top image (Canon
camera using daylight bulb) was a bit of a disaster so I’ve included the bottom
image (cheap camera phone using natural indoor winter daylight) which is
unaccountably more representative. £155
WCA-7033: Charles II “Restoration”
Period Hammered Silver Halfgroat. Third
issue, struck late on in that brief window of 1660-62, after which hammered
coinage was officially superseded by milled coinage. S.R. 3326.
The top image (Canon camera using daylight bulb) was a bit of a disaster
so I’ve included the bottom image (cheap camera phone using natural indoor
winter daylight) which is unaccountably more representative. £155
Milled
Guineas
WAu-7816:
1673 Charles II
Restoration Period Milled Full Gold Guinea.
Fourth laureate bust with the rounded truncation. John & Joseph Roettier dies with
Blondeau’s machinery – 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 here after several hundred years. 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. 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 1st. 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. S.R. 3344. No mount marks. £2,775
Crowns
WCA-9049: 1662 Charles II Silver
Crown - Fashioned into a SMUGGLER'S BOX.
A great rarity! A standard 1662 Restoration
milled crown, albeit in high grade, modified into a Smuggler's Box, exactly as
we see on the later 1797 Cartwheel twopences and very occasionally the smaller
Cartwheel pennies. Two coins were needed
here in order to have one half with the rim intact - incidentally the rim,
attached to the obverse, has a regnal year of XV, meaning it was originally a
1663 or 1664 crown. You may well be
wondering how in the year 1663 or 1664 Charles could possibly have been king
for 15 years, considering Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King
of England, Scotland, and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy
until his death in 1685. The answer lies
in succession: when Charles 1st died, Charles II was king, irrespective of the
Commonwealth. At least that's how the
Royalists saw it. I imagine the
Parliamentarians, even after the Restoration of the monarchy, saw things quite
differently. Extra images here and here. I have never seen another silver coin
fashioned into a smuggler's box before, of any denomination. Remember, to do this you were effectively
throwing away ten shillings, which was a considerable amount of money back
then. These were often apprentice
pieces; a medium for the worker's skill to be displayed. Who could afford to waste ten shillings doing
that?! As already pointed out, a great
rarity! £785
WCA-5755: 1673 Charles II Full
Silver Crown. VICESIMO QVINTO edge
but with the I of VICESIMO being very clearly overstruck on an “O”. The 3 of the date has an odd look to it, specifically
on the right side immediately opposite the pellet stop. An unusual coin. £235
Half Crowns
WCA-5746: 1677 Charles II Silver
Halfcrown. Fourth draped bust,
crowned cruciform shields. Strong edge –
V.NONO. A most unusual coin as there are
NO strings to the reverse crown, something I’ve never seen before. £275
Shillings
WCA-5413: 1684 Charles II Silver
Shilling. Final issue (4th)
and final year before James II. A nice
grade coin (not quite VF but much better than F) that’s been gilded in
antiquity and presumably been mounted – there are flat areas on the milled edge
indicating a mount. An attractive and hard-to-source
coin in anything better than F. £395
Silver Maundy / Small
Denominations
WCA-5135: 1679 Charles II Silver
Threepence – Unrecorded Variety. The
first “A” in “GRATIA” is over an “O” and the second “A” is over another
“A”. The second overstrike is not a
double strike, rather an adjustment in spacing for GRATIA. The two “A”s in this second overstrike are a
good distance apart. Unrecorded in S.R. and ESC.
£75
"Other"
WJC-7062:
1638 Silver
Medal – Prince Charles Invested into the Order of the Garter. As symbolic as you’d perhaps expect from this
period, this is an interesting medal depicting entry into that rather exclusive
club that still exists today.
Membership
is limited to the monarch and his / her first-born and up to 24 “companions” -
along the lines of Dr Who. Charles 1st
as monarch in 1638 and Prince Charles (the future Charles II, once Oliver Cromwell
had gone away) were automatic members.
Then and now, the lucky recipients were / are hand picked by the
monarch. Today the Order of The Garter
is open to women, although it has to be said that there are currently only
three of those. In 2018, 2019 and 2020,
three members sadly died (all men), meaning that there are currently three
vacancies should any reader be interested.
More recent members include Sir Winston Churchill and Sir John Major,
the latter being an ex Prime Minister, although perhaps more famous for his
avatar appearing on Spitting Image in the 1990’s with some peas. Eimer 131 (£500 /£900, 21 years ago back in
2000), Medallic Illustrations (i) 282/88.
An interesting piece of British history.
See Charles 1st section RESERVED (I.M. Lay-Away
5-7-24)
WCA-9207: Charles
II Bi-Metallic Ticket-Token for the Touching Ceremony. Copper surround, brass insert. Obverse: a three-masted ship in sail to left with
a six pointed star below. Toothed
border.
CAR.II.D.G.M.B.FR.ET.HI.REX.
Reverse: St Michael piercing the dragon with a six pointed star
below. Toothed border. SOLI DEO GLORIA. “Touching Ceremonies” was where the monarch
of the day, in this case Charles II, personally gave out gold touch pieces to
sufferers of Scrofula (tubercular infection, to which it is estimated that 1%
of the London population suffered) in order to cure them. Charles II personally attended these
ceremonies, acting as God's own emissary upon the earth - Charles personally
touching the Touch Piece was effectively God touching it. Sufferers were invited and issued with an
official Ticket-Pass to admit them to the ceremony. You gave your Ticket-Pass in at the door,
entered the ceremony, got touched by the king and hopefully left as a cured
individual. These Ticket-Tokens were
collected and re-issued for the next Touching Ceremony. 105,000 people were Touched by Charles II
with around 360 sufferers being admitted to each ceremony. However, the
officials used three designs of Ticket-Tokens: brass, copper or a combination
of both. To prevent fraud, officials
alternated the type of Ticket-Token used.
The bi-metallic copper & brass Ticket-Tokens are much rarer than the
other two types. It is interesting to
note the wear on this Ticket-Token: although resembling a copper halfpenny,
this Ticket-Token could not have entered circulation as currency for two
reasons. Firstly, it’s not wholly
copper. What was on the coin in those
days mattered very little, but that it was copper was essential. Secondly, it is inconceivable that a
recipient sufferer would have forfeited his or her chance of being cured by the
king for a mere halfpence. The officials
would not have let this Ticket-Token out into circulation either so we can
deduce that the wear on the Ticket-Token is down to it having been issued many
times so it likely to be a piece from early on in the reign of Charles II. Incidentally, officials issued the
bi-metallic passes in order to make it extremely difficult for someone without
scrofula to fake a pass in order to get a free gold coin. Peck 498 and listed as Very Scarce. 
£595
Provenance:
ex Dr Basil Nicholson
collection, dispersed...
ex Colin Cook (2003), sold
for £175