Shilling of Charles I.

This is the second find that came in from Stephen Palmer. The first was an Elizabeth I sixpence but this one is a shilling of Charles I.

The coin was struck at the mint in the Tower of London and it has mint mark triangle in circle on both sides (it only shows up on the obverse). It’s a coin of group F, type 4/4.

Stephen said that both coins came up from about 14 inches deep and they were unearthed about ten feet from each other. He wondered if they might have been lost by the same person. That is a possibility but it is equally possible that they were lost by two different people many years apart.

The weight is 5.89 grams and Stephen said the flan looked to be thicker than usual. To me the flan looks to be on the small side, which would explain why it looked to be thicker.

This and the other coin were unearthed from unploughed ridge and furrow grassland, on which Stephen said he had never had any luck in the past. However, he now intends to go back onto the same field again with a larger coil to see if he has missed any other finds. All I can do is to wish him luck. My detector is pretty good but it most certainly wouldn’t give a signal if a coin was 14 inches deep!

Valuation

It would grade Fine for the issue but the edge is slightly chipped in places, so it wouldn’t be worth much more than £30.