English Hammered and Roman Hammered Coin Information

Information about English Hammered Coins and Ancient Roman Coins.

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

Identifying the shillings of James I

Above you can see the six different bust types used during the reign of king James I, these are in order from first to sixth busts. Sure make you wonder if he had a nose job somewhere between the time the first and second busts were designed. The first bust has somewhat coarser features. The second bust's most distinguishing feature is the beard that straight down the chest. The third bust has a somewhat squared off beard. The fourth and fifth are a similar, but the fifth shows curlier hair. The sixth is more stylized and has even curlier hair, my favorite of all of the portraits of King James on his coinage. If you have more information that would be appropriate to add to this, please email me.

Monday, November 10, 2003

In the near future I hope to tackle the topics of hammered coin identification and grading. On the English hammered coin identification area, I will try to locate nice examples of each of the six bust typesof James I Shillings and Sixpiences (although the 5th bust is only on the rare 1618 sixpence, I probably won't be able to find a picture of that. I will try to cover some of the milled coins of Elizabeth I as well as the different hammered styles as the years progressed. Then I may tackle the varied coinage of Charles I, many different bust types in there. If yoiu have a nice image of a coin that might be suitable for this subject, please let me know.

Monday, November 03, 2003

Grading Elizabeth I Hammered Sixpences

For a larger view of these coins, please click the picture.
I thought I would start a little discussion on the grading of English Hammered Coins, starting with the coinage of Elizabeth I, at least the sixpences.
Grading hammered coins is difficult to say the least, where they are hand made, they are very inconsistent. You would be hard pressed to find two that are exactly alike. Many factors come into play when pricing a hammered coin, including weak areas, clipping and wear. Sometimes it is difficult to determine what is wear and what is strike.
The first coin on the left is what you will find most common, where the portrait is pretty well gone. Usually a coin is graded by its worst side, placing this in the poor area. The next displays some of the portrait and and a little detailing placing it in the Good range. Next we find a nice outline of the portrait and some of the detailing of the face, crown and ruff showing. I would grade this at just better than Fine, although the rose is a little weak. The next coin is nearing the Very Fine range just a bit of weakness in the face and legends keep this from the full Very Fine range. The crown, hair detailing, ruff and bodice display Very Fine qualities. The last coin has enough detail to call it a full Very Fine, it displays nice facial detail, most of the crown, ruff and bodice are extant. A pleasant and attractive coin. Problem free examples are getting harder to find.
If you have any questions or comments, please email me at beeker1@english-hammered-coins.com