James II 1688 Guinea Elephant & Castle XF45, rare type for final year

James II (1685-88), gold Guinea, 1688, elephant and castle below second laureate head left, legend and toothed border surrounding both sides, IACOBVS. II. DEI. GRATIA, rev. crowned cruciform shields, emblematic sceptres in angles, date either side of top crown, .MAG. BR. FRA. ET. HIB REX. (Schneider 458; Bull EGC 335; Farey 0305 VR; MCE 131; S.3403). Toned with some surface marks both sides, has been slabbed and graded by NGC as XF45 and very rare being the elephant and castle mark.

NGC Certification 6515820-015.

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

There was £561,309 worth of gold struck in the calendar year of 1688 which was the second highest output of the three year reign, with highest being 1686 on £617,411, and the lowest 1687 perhaps because silver production was high that year at £401,301 of gold output across the denominations of which the Guinea was a Twenty Shilling piece.

A proportion of these totals is represent by the elephant and castle provenance mark coins, indicative of being issued by the "Royal African Company of England" as it had been so reconstructed by the Duke of York from 1672. The "R.A.C." was quite a success trading with Africa and the New World through the 1670s and 1680s. For further reading see the new publication by Graham Birch "The Metal in Britain's Coins" Chapter Three - The Royal African Company and the Golden Guineas p.33-57.

Thomas Snelling in his 1763 publication "A View of the Gold Coin and Coinage of England from Henry the Third to the Present Time" reproduces a table from the London Advertiser of 23rd January 1755 which heralds that £39,371 of gold coin was struck from the company in 1688, meaning if accurate that less than 10% of the total output was elephant and castle marked gold coins that year.

Provenance:

With an old Seaby ticket dating back to 1946 and priced at £12/10/-