Silver Crowns of Great Britain - for Historians, Coin Collectors

As a bookseller I often come across interesting items. In my collection I have a thin pamphlet for the collector of silver crowns of Great Britain and Ireland. It is only 12 pages and does not give any history at all, beyond black-and-white photos of coins and brief notations. As I was looking through the pamphlet I was intrigued by how much historical trivia about Great Britain is packed in this little book, which focuses just on this one kind of coinage, silver crowns. (For this article, I will focus just on what I learned about England and Scotland and save Ireland for perhaps a later time.) Here is some of what I've learned in my browsing:

The silver crown first came on the scene in 1551, during the reign of Edward VI. As this book was published in 1941, it is not surprising that the most recent silver crown listed is for George VI, who began his reign in 1937.

The coins were originally "hammered" (which I assume describes how the coins were made), and then later described as being "milled." The first milled coin mentioned in the pamphlet was during Oliver Cromwell's time, 1658.

The mints mentioned for the English silver crowns are the Tower Mint, Briot's Coinage, Exeter Mint, Oxford Mint and Shrewsbury Mint.

The British Crowns all apparently have a Latin motto of some kind, with the exception for one crown made during the Commonwealth (1649-1656) Many of the mottoes were Christian/Biblical in nature. I found several of these mottoes quite intriguing, and hinted at the political upheavel that must have been going on in Great Britain and Scotland during that time: "Pax Quaeritur Bello" [Peace is sought by war], "Religio Protestantium Leges Angliae Libertas Parliament" [The religion of the Protestants, the laws of England, the liberty of Parliament], "Nemo me Impune Lacesset" [No one shall hurt me with impunity].

The images on the crowns are very interesting to look at and one could quickly see a pattern in some as you moved through time. The first silver crown, for King Edward VI in 1551 shows the king riding a horse to the right. King James I, sometime in 1603 or 1604 duplicates his ancestor's image. When we get to King Charles I, however, he's changed the direction of the horse, and now we have a king riding to the left. (I couldn't help wondering WHY the king decided he must be riding in a different direction from his ancestors.) The next horse and rider we see is Saint George and the Dragon riding to the left for King George III in 1818, the same image duplicated by his son George IV in 1821, Queen Victoria in 1887, and King Edward VIII in 1902. King George V in 1935 decides to change things up, and designs a more modern Saint George and the Dragon who happens to be riding to the right, in 1935.

One gets a hint of marital bliss in that of all the silver crowns depicted, only the King and Queen of Scotland, William and Mary are depicted together on their silver crown, minted in 1691 and 1692. Not surprising we can see King William's full profile, and just the sliver of Queen Mary behind him. (Though with his long flowing curls, it isn't obvious at first WHICH is William and which is Mary.)

Of all the silver crowns depicted, I enjoyed sturying the crowns from Queen Victoria (1837-1901) the most; they give such a delightful overview of her life in four images. In 1844-1847 we get to see her as a young woman with no adornment, her hair simply styled. In 1847 we see her in what the pamphlet describes as "Gothic type", with her hair in braids, a fairly large crown, and an embroidered blouse. In 1887 Queen Victoria celebrated her 50 year Jubilee, so no surprise a new silver crown coin image was minted. Here she is a stern matronly figure, her hair covered in a scarf, with a smaller crown, earrings, necklace, and a more modest embroidered dress. Then lastly we have the oldest coin image of her in 1893, which the pamphlet bluntly and somewhat rudely descibes as simply "old head." The crown is almost a mere circlet now, but still with a head scarf over her hair and her necklace. One can't help but look at the first image, young, beautiful and perhaps a bit naive and compare it with the tired, stern matron of the last image and wonder how incredibly challenging her life must have been.

All sorts of lovely, symbolic imagery is used in these silver coins. I already mentioned Saint George and the Dragon, but one also finds shields, harps, feather plumes, lions, crosses, roses, thistles, shamrocks, unicorns, and even a palm tree during the reign of Queen Mary of Scots in 1565.

From King Charles II (1662) to King George IV (1820) you find the kings with laurels in their hair. (Called simply "laureated head" in the pamphlet.) It isn't until about King George III (1760) that we see kings with short hair; prior to this it appears the long flowing locks was considered the height of kingliness!

The last thing I noticed was how the pamphlet commented on where the silver for the coins came from. Another piece of trivia history, but I'm sure very interesting to historians of this period. King Charles II (1660-1685) had access to silver not only from English mines, but also apparently from Africa. The pamphlet simply states "silver from the African Co." which sounds like a fascinating rabbit trail to follow up. Queen Anne (1702-1714) has silver crowns made not only from English silver, but also from Welsh, and silver bullion taken from the Spaniards during a specific battle in Vigo Bay, October 1702. King George I (1714-1727) had access to silver from the South Sea Co., while his son King George II (1727-1760) had access to silver captured from the Spaniards at Lima in 1746.