Edward VI Penny, Sovereign type, London Mint, mm tun

Edward VI (1547-53), silver Penny, fine silver issue (1551-53), Sovereign type, London Mint, facing seated figure of King on throne with orb and sceptre, two pillars of throne visible, Latin legend and beaded border surrounding with lozenge stops, initial mark tun (1551-53) both sides, E. D. G. ROSA. SInE. SPI., rev. long cross fourchee over quartered shield of arms, Latin legend and beaded borders surrounding, CIVI TAS LON DON, weight 0.50g (N.1942; S.2487). Toned, a little double struck on obverse, with clear details and mint marks, a bold to good very fine and extremely rare.

The abbreviated Latin legends translate as on the obverse "Edward, by the Grace of God, a rose without a thorn" and on the reverse "City of London."

Edward VI was the long-awaited surviving son of King Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, born on 12^th October 1537, though his mother died shortly after his birth from complications. He was a healthy child who enjoyed good health until the last six months of his relatively short life, though his eyesight was said to be poor. His Father Henry died on what would have been his Grandfather's 90^th birthday on 28^th January 1547 and Edward was coronated, still age 9 on 20^th February 1547. There was a council of sixteen executors in place to guide the boy King through early regnal life and they were supplemented by twelve counsellors. Edward VI inherited a debased coinage from his Father, though a series of interesting pattern coins were emerged around the time of his coronation in 1547-48 period as the young King took a great interest in the subject, gradually rectifying fineness through early debased coinages, continuing in the name of his Father with the character sets and symbolism on the coins changed, leading to coins with Edward's portrait but still in his Father's name, subsequently by 1550 coins in his own right followed eventually from 1551-53 with fine silver coinage, though the gold would remain at 22 carat "crown" gold for everyday trading denominations, and only the finest gold reserved for the Angel and fine Sovereign. The young King fell ill from a lung condition in January of 1553 and a succession crisis loomed as Edward feared that older half-sister Mary would reverse his protestant reforms and therefore perhaps favoured Lady Jane Grey to succeed him over and above his own half-sisters. Edward was last seen by the public on 1^st July 1553 at the window of Greenwich Palace looking thin and withdrawn and he passed away age 15 at 8pm on the 6^th July and buried at Westminster Abbey on 8^th August. Mary Tudor did succeed Edward disposjng any notion of Lady Jane Grey continuing past the ninth day of her own support in light of the King's death.

Capital City London upon the River Thames following Roman occupation, minted some of the earliest Saxon coins with gold Thrymsas and silver denarii with a "Londuniu" signature. Mercian Kings beginning with Offa minted coins there, but the first coin to actually say City of London upon it is the unique Ludica portrait Penny that was found in 2016, followed by subsequent coins of Ecgberht. In 871 the Danes wintered in London for the first time but was King Alfred of Wessex who settled and fortified the capital circa 880 to resist further invasions. Edward the Elder incorporated the City in Wessex in 911 and it resisted a major attack in the reign of Aethelred II in 1009. However, London submitted to the Danish Swein in 1013, but three years later the citizens accepted Eadmund Ironside as King and resisted a siege by Canute.

Later unsettled times occurred in the anarchy period of the reign of King Stephen, remaining loyal to the King except for a few months in 1141 when Empress Matilda was admitted but within a short time expelled. Coinage activity here has been mostly constant throughout history from the Romans until the reign of our current Queen and only moving out to Wales from 1969.

Provenance:

Ex Baldwin of St James, Auction 16, 17^th April 2018, lot 286.

Ex Dix Noonan Webb, Auction 166, 23^rd January 2020, lot 50.

Ex Collection of an English Doctor part III, Sovereign Rarities fixed price list online September 2022.