Henry VII Half-Groat Canterbury, type IIIc with Archbishop Morton

Henry VII (1485-1509), silver Half-Groat, type IIIc, Canterbury Mint, issued jointly with Archbishop Morton, facing crowned bust in double tressure of seven arcs, double arched crown, beaded circle and Latin legend surrounding, initial mark tun (1493-99) both sides, no stops in legend, hEnRIC DI' GRA REX AnGL Z F, rev. long cross pattee, tri-pellets in each inner angle, beaded circles and twin concentric legend surrounding, inner legend CIVI TAS CAn TOR, outer legend POSVI DEV' A DIVTO E mEV, weight 1.51g (N.1712; S.2211). Toned struck a little off-centre, a bold very fine.

The abbreviated Latin legends translate as on the obverse, "Henry, by the grace of God, King of England and France." and on the reverse inner legend "City of Canterbury" and the outer as "I have made God our helper" a Psalm from the Bible.

The cathedral City of Canterbury lies on the River Stour in Kent some sixty miles from London and sixteen miles north west of the port of Dover. Early Anglo-Saxon gold Thrymsa coins are known bearing its name and became one of the most important mints in Southern England in the 8^th and 9^th Centuries. The Danes were bought off for £3,000 in 809, but later took the city in 839 and again in 851, also circa 981 and finally in 1011. The first Archbishop was St Augustine who arrived in 597 on a mission from Pope Gregory and accepted by King Aethelberht in 598 on his conversion to Christianity. The Archbishop later had the right to two moneyers which increased to three in 1189. The abbot of St Augustine had the privilege to one die in eight at Canterbury until 1161 although the coins do not seem to bear any specific mark. The only issue which could be demarked as for the abbot being the Henry I type XIV issue with an annulet on the shoulder for moneyers Algar and Willem, and it is known that his moneyer in the Tealby coinage was Alferg.