James III silver Touchpiece issued in exile circa 1720 in Rome

James III (b.1688-d.1766), silver Touch-Piece, undated (c.1720), three masted ship "The Sovereign of the Seas" at full sail left, legend and outer toothed border surrounding, IAC. III. D. G. M. B. F. ET. H. R., rev. St. Michael slaying the dragon with a lance, legend and outer toothed border surrounding, SOLI. DEO. GLORIA., weight 3.36g (Woolf O1/R1, plate numbers 58 & 69; MI ii 316/140). Pierced as usual, with attractive, darker toning, a fully centred strike, and underlying lustre, quite heavy weight too, extremely fine and extremely rare.

James III of England or James VIII of Scotland was the son of King James II. He was recognised by Louis XIV as King of England, Scotland and Ireland, but acts under William II excluded James from the line of succession to secure a protestant monarch.

This variety of touch piece with IAC. III legend was made for his use in Italy where he lived for nearly half a century in Rome, after his failed expedition to Scotland and England and subsequent pressure to leave France. One of the Hamerani brothers, either Ermenegildo or Ottone of the Rome mint was responsible for the production of these pieces and Ottone had been appointed engraver to James by a warrant of 25th October 1720. Ottone died in 1761 (his brother had died in 1744) whereupon James appointed his son Fernando to be engraver by a warrant of 16th May 1761 but there is nothing evident to show that Fernando actually produced any medallic work or otherwise for James in the twilight of his life.

The so called "Kings Evil" or Morbus Regius also known as the disease scrofula was what the Royal touch from the monarch was purported to be able to cure. Since the time of King Edward the Confessor (later canonised) a belief in prayer coupled with the Royal touch could incur a miraculous recovery and it became usual to give money as alms to the afflicted, in the Middle Ages a Penny as a day's wages for a labourer. Later in the medieval period the gold Angel coin became prominent as the "doctors" coin as the 6s and 8d face value was the standard fee of a medical doctor at the time. The reverse legend of Angel coins was revered as a healing inscription coupled with St. Michael slaying the devil as a dragon. As the monarch was seen to have a divine right to Kingship and was related to the now Sainted King, the coin became effectively a healing amulet especially if the monarch had once touched it. The passing of a Touch-Piece therefore became more commonplace under the Stuart reigns of James I and Charles I, and at these times of plague and other disease it was sensible for the King to pass such Angel coins, rather than to touch those physically ailed, a social distance being maintained by the gift of coin. The recipient who may have cured from their ill would covet such a coin and wear it against their skin probably for the rest of their life, and this is why such coins are often holed. By the time of the later Stuart reigns of Charles II and James II the Angel coin was no longer in production as machinery had become the new norm at the Mint. A need to still touch for the Kings evil meant production of these special pieces as we have for sale herewith prevailed and there was even a gap left in the legend where the piercing would occur. The reverse depicts the warship "The Sovereign of the Seas", launched in October 1637 and in service until it was burned by fire in Chatham docks in 1697.