Charles I., 1625-1649.
Charles I. ascended the throne March 28, 1625, and very soon began to make arrangements for the
issue of a coinage upon the same principles as that of his father. It consisted at first of crowns, half-
crowns, shillings, six-pences, half-groats, pence; groats, threepences, and half-pence, were
subsequently coined in some of the provincial mints; the metal was of the standard fineness, 11 oz. 2
dwts. silver, and 18 dwts. alloy, and the weight was in the proportion of 7 25/31 grains to the penny,
and it was remarkable that during all his troubles and difficulties no debasement took place, however
rude his coins may have been in form and workmanship.
The types, or rather the modifications of the types, of his coins are exceedingly numerous, partly
owing to the taste and fancy of those who had the direction of affairs at the regular mints, and partly
owing to the want of skill in the persons who were engaged in the various occasional mints in different
parts of the country. We lament that we are not able to point out from which mint each piece was
issued; but the difficulties of doing so are insurmountable. If we examine those, which are considered
to have been the production of the Tower, we cannot but remark that they vary exceedingly in the
style and quality of the workmanship; some, which are so very inferior as to lead to a supposition that
they are imitations executed in the country, were not improbably produced at the Tower by inferior
workmen, after the established officers of the mint had escaped from London and joined the king's
party. Others again were certainly fabricated in the country towns but in which cannot always be
ascertained; Aberystwith, Bristol, Chester, Exeter, Oxford, Worcester, York, are generally
distinguishable. Several coins however exist which cannot be assigned to any of these places, and it is
only from some supposed similarity, in the modification of the type, to the coins of some known
locality that we are induced to believe that they were struck in some neighbouring district, or in some
place held by the royal army at the same, or nearly the same time, as that whose type and
workmanship it resembles. these we shall endeavour to point out when we come to describe each
type. We shall begin with those pieces, which are supposed to have issued from the Tower mint,
taking the several denominations in succession.
James I |
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Charles I, Crowns
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