Lot 1118
Great Britain. 'Fine' Sovereign, 1553. S-2488; N-1956. 15.27 grams. Mary Tudor, 1553-1554. Date in Roman Numerals. Mary enthroned facing. Reverse; Shield within rose. Pomegranate / pomegranate mintmarks. With a full flan, bold legends and a solid strike (including the queen's delicate face), this a most impressive hammered coin. Very rare, more so in this grade. NGC graded MS-61. Estimated Value $25,000 - UP
The death of Henry VIII's teenaged son, Edward VI, in July 1551 signaled not only the demise of the Tudor king's only male heir but what might have been a turning point in British history. The boy-king had been incapable of governing, which left control of the Crown to his statesmen in what was called the Protectorate, also known as his Council, consisting of men given power by Henry VIII. Each was overwhelmingly self-serving. When Edward died, the Duke of Northumberland, his Protector at the time, ignored King Henry's wishes and attempted to place his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, on the throne. Parliament and loyalists of the Tudor family intervened, ending in Lady Jane's beheading at the Tower and the succession of the late king's older sister Mary. She had her mind set to restore the fineness of the kingdom's coins (which had fallen to a poor state under her father) but her main objective was not improving the money, which she did, but rather inspiring loyalty from her subjects. For little more than a year, the kingdom thrived and was at peace. Then, in July 1554, she married Prince Philip of Spain, a Catholic. His image and name were placed on many of her coins, but his politics became a horror to the people of England. He brought the Spanish Inquisition to England, persecuting and killing many of Mary's formerly loyal subjects. She was dubbed "Bloody Mary" during the terror and might have been overthrown had she not died of stomach cancer. Philip made haste to return to Spain. The threat to England's historical movement towards freedom ended when the dead queen's little sister, the Princess Elizabeth, became Queen Elizabeth I. She quickly restored all of the money to high standards of quality, and her image and name replaced Mary's-whose greatest coin is seen in this "fine sovereign." In Elizabeth's long reign, the horror that Spain attempted to install in England was repaid when the English navy intercepted and destroyed the invading Spanish Armada in 1588.
Ex Dr Jacob Y. Terner Collection (by private treaty to the Millennia Collection). Illustrated in Money of The World, coin 82.; Ex Goldberg 'Millennia' Sale, 46, May 26, 2008, lot 289, previously in NGC holder graded MS-62, price realized $46,000.
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| Realized $96,000 |
