Shilling of Charles I
This coin was found recently whilst Michael Eakers was out detecting. After being told it was from the Worcester mint and worth a lot of money Michael asked for my opinion on his find, which is pictured here.
The coin is a shilling of Charles I and is of a type that was struck at Worcester or Shrewsbury during 1643 or 1644. On the obverse is a bust of the king but there is no mint mark of any kind. On the reverse is a fairly crude oval shield, the mint mark is a lion and the legend – CHRISTO AVSPICE REGNO – is punctuated by stars.
Volume 33 in the SCBI series focused on the massive collection of coins of Charles I formed by John G. Brooker. The obverse of catalogue number 1172 (a shilling from the ‘S’ or ‘W’ mint) was struck from the same die as the coin featured here. However, the reverse was a different die.
Valuation
When researching this coin I traced four or five specimens of Brooker number 1172 but only one specimen matching Michael’s shilling.
On the obverse there are scratches on the king’s face; on the reverse there is a scratch at the base of the shield and weakness in the second quarter. Therefore, it has a few slight defects but is struck on a full flan and would grade VF for the period.
Basing my estimate on past sales, if I was cataloguing the coin for sale at auction I would set the pre-sale estimate no lower than £7,000-9,000.
Valuation Service
If you would like your coin identified or valued, please read about my valuation service and contact me