Sovereign type penny of Henry VIII

John Lashmar asked for a full ID and a valuation on this hammered silver coin, which is 15mm in diameter.

John’s find is a sovereign type penny of Henry VIII. This type is named after the gold sovereign, which was struck for the first time during the reign of Henry VII and had on the obverse an image of the king seated upon a throne.

This penny was struck during the second coinage and has a profile portrait of King Henry on the obverse. The mint mark on this side is a star. On the reverse is a shield of arms with a letter T to the left and a W to the right. The surrounding legend reads CIVI TAS DVR RAM. The mint mark on this side is unclear.

The preceding information tells us that this penny was struck for the profit of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey when he was Bishop of Durham. Wolsey was a great statesman and for many years the right-hand man of Henry VIII. However, he fell from grace late in the 1520s and died on his way to London, where he would have faced some serious charges.

Valuation

This sovereign type penny would grade nearly Fine but it has been struck off centre and is a fairly common type so my valuation figure would be no higher than £30.

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