Queen Elizabeth I: On this day....

Throughout the month of January, ill be looking back at historical moments from the past. From conflicts to coronations, sporting moments to royal memories, and famous firsts and lasts. With my love of all things shiny and precious, ill be trying to tie these events in with coins that have been created to commemorate these moments.

On 15 January 1559, Elizabeth I ascended to throne and became Queen of England. Known as Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the last of the five monarchs of the House of Tudor, and reigned until her death in 1603.

During her reign she defeated the Spanish Armada, saving England from invasion, reinstated Protestantism, and ultimately solidified England as a strong and independent nation. Due to her successful leadership and intriguing character, Elizabeth is a Queen who was captured public imagination centuries after her reign, and has been portrayed in films and television shows many times.

Under Elizabeth I all coins were made of gold or silver, there was no base metal coins or paper money like there is today.

The coinage of Queen Elizabeth I came in multiple denominations, with all denominations looking the same. The key distinguish features were their weights and diameter is different.

Very approximately, here are the weights in grams:

• PENNY: 0.5 gram
• THREEHALFPENCE: 0.75 g
• HALF GROAT: 1.0 g
• THREEPENCE: 1.5 g
• GROAT: 2 g
• SIXPENCE: 3 g
• SHILLING: 6 g
• HALF CROWN: 15 g
• CROWN: 30 g

Prices for these coins vary greatly. Depending on circulating supply, scarcity, rareness and quality you could expect pay tens of pounds(£) to hundreds/thousands of pounds. As an example, here are some recent sale prices (at auction) for graded sixpences (3g of silver):

• Coin A is in 'extra fine' condition and sold for $675 US dollars in a 2007 auction by Stack's Bowers. It would probably sell for quite a bit more today.

• Coin B is in 'very fine' condition and sold for $220 US dollars in a 2014 auction by Heritage Auctions.

• Coin C is in 'fine' condition and sold for $80 US dollars in a 2009 auction by Baldwin's.

Unfortunately, i dont have coins of this age in my collection. While i do love the history of coins and how throughout history gold and silver have been used, the prices on these coins put them out of reach for a small collector like myself.

SOURCE: ROYAL MINT COINQUEST

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