Charles II 1663 Guinea first Bust with Elephant AU58, struck en medaille

Charles II (1660-85), gold Guinea, 1663, struck from 22 carat gold supplied by the African Company, with an upright die axis, elephant below first laureate head right, Latin legend and toothed border surrounding both sides, CAROLVS. II. DEI. GRATIA, note no stop before DEI, rev. struck en médaille, crowned cruciform shields, emblematic sceptres in angles, four interlinked Cs at centre, date either side of top crown, .MAG. BR. FRA. ET. HIB. REX., edge milled (cf.Schneider 438; Bull EGC 228 R5 plate coin; Farey 015 ER; MCE 53 ER; S.3339). Toned with some red colouration, flan flaw on reverse on edge of Scottish arms, a little wear to high points and hair, has been slabbed and graded by NGC as AU58 and the only example we have seen with a medallic die alignment.

NGC Certification 6671799-001 the medallic alignment noted on the label.

The Latin legends translate as on the obverse "Charles the Second, by the Grace of God," and abbreviated on the reverse as "King of Great Britain, France and Ireland."

Perhaps all the no stop before DEI (if any more are out there?) are struck with a medallic upright alignment.

We note the calendar year gold output for 1663 amounted to only £1,231 which would have been exclusively for guineas on a one pound face value of twenty shillings at that time, meaning the issue dated 1663 was very small.

Such coins with the elephant provenance mark below the bust were issued by the Royal African Company which was launched by Prince Rupert in 1660 to bring back gold and trade goods from Africa. The Company did well at first and no doubt produced this gold coinage of Two Guineas dated 1664 after an initial first issue of Guineas the year before. Guineas were also issued dated 1664 but clearly the larger Two Guinea piece was used for the bulk of the Royal African Company issue to coin their gold quicker. 1664 was also the year in which the Company became over-confident on the African coast trying to take over some of the Dutch trader forts and positions, in which Sir Robert Holmes with up to eleven Royal Navy warships at his disposal was perhaps too aggressive in taking over Dutch assets and was briefly imprisoned on his return for taking his orders too far. The monetary costs of his confrontations also caused havoc with the Company's finances, somehow soldiering on with some further coin issues, through to 1671 when it eventually became insolvent. The Company was soon relaunched again from 1672 as the Royal African Company of England.

Provenance:

Ex Spink Coin Auction, 6^th October 2011, lot 347 -die axis not mentioned.