Edward VI Shilling Durham House Mint, the rarest Mint for this reign

Edward VI (1547-53), silver Shilling, of 6 oz fine undated, Durham House Mint under John Bowes, crowned squat bust right within linear circle, legend surrounding with diamond stops, initial mark bow both sides, EDWARD'x VI'x Dx Gx ANGLx FRAx Zx HIBx REX, rev. oval quartered shield of arms on frame, E to left, R to right, linear circles and legend surrounding, INIMICOSx EIVSx INDVAMx CONFVSIONE, weight 4.13g (Bispham bust 2; Potter type 5F; N.1924; S.2472). Toned, with a few edge chips, a little wear to high points and weak in parts, with good residual detail on bust for this rare issue, a bold very fine.

The legends translate as on the obverse "Edward the Sixth by the grace of God, King of England, France and Ireland," and on the reverse "As for his enemies I shall clothe them with shame" a Psalm from the Bible and a legend that appears exclusively on the Durham House Mint Shillings.

Durham House was built by Thomas Hatfield the Bishop of Durham as his London home from 1345 and was an episcopal Palace until the Tudor times. One of the grandest homes in London of the time King Henry IV and his son once stayed there, and it was the place where Catherine of Aragon was kept in residence between the death of her husband Prince Arthur and her subsequent betrothal to his younger brother who became King Henry VIII. Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall relinquished Durham House to Henry in return for other properties which it seems he never received, and Henry had Anne Boleyn installed there while he courted her in 1532 in advance of the 1533 marriage. It was to their daughter Lady Elizabeth (later Queen) that the house then passed. Edward VI confirmed the grant to Elizabeth when he came to the throne and it was in his reign that limited minting activity in 1550 occurred there under the Master-ship of John Bowes with the mint mark a rebus on his surname. It was right at the end of his reign in late May of 1553 that Lady Jane Grey was married in Durham House to Guilford Dudley.

Later Mary Tudor restored the house to Bishop Tunstall as he was still without a London residence, but Elizabeth I later took possession back on her accession and then gifted to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1583 who spent £2,000 restoring it.

Provenance:

Ex C. F. Gilboy, sold as other properties, Spink Auction 6, 11^th October 1979, lot 541 sold for £450 hammer.

Ex Marvin Lessen's North York Moors Collection, part 3, Dix Noonan and Webb, Auction 168, 29^th January 2020, lot 870.