Henry VIII gold Crown of the Double Rose, Bristol Mint, ex Samuel Birchall

Henry VIII (1509-47), gold Crown of the Double Rose, third coinage (1544-47), Bristol Mint, initial mark WS ligatured on reverse only, for Master William Sharrington, large crowned rose, crowned h to left, crowned R to right, beaded circle surrounding, Lombardic lettering, quatrefoil at middle of legend, :hEnRIC.9 VIII: ROSAxx+xx SInE: SPInAx, rev. crowned quartered shield of arms, crowned h to left, crowned R to right, legend with slipped trefoil and saltire stops with quatrefoil midway, WS: D;G; AnGLIExx.+.xx FRA'. Z. hIB'. REXxxx, weight 3.17g (Schneider 640; N.1836; S.2309). Toned, weakly struck in parts both sides, otherwise a bold very fine and rare.

The Latin legends translate as on the obverse " Henry the Eighth, a dazzling rose without a thorn" and on the reverse " By the Grace of God, King of England France and Ireland".

The Bristol Mint has its own distinct styles of lettering and legend stops when compared to the Tower Mint productions. The use of the VIII with Henry differs from the Tower Mint in the third coinage which usually have "8" and Giles Evenet the engraver employed at Bristol often uses rosettes in the make up of his legends upon such coins.

Provenance:

Ex Samuel Birchall (1761-1814), Leeds wool merchant and writer of "A Descriptive List of the Provincial Copper Coins, or Tokens issued between the years 1786 and 1796" published in 1796. His token collection sold many years after his passing with two other collections by Puttick and Simpson on 20^th July 1869. His ticket accompanies this coin and matches those tickets listed in the coin ticket archive at the British Numismatic Society website www.britnumsoc.org