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1/2 Angel - James I 2nd coinage
| Issuer | Tower Mint, London |
|---|---|
| Year | 1612-1619 |
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| Currency | Pound sterling (1158-1970) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | A Tudor warship sailing to the right, with a large quartered royal shield of arms mounted upon the hull, and a prominent thick mast rising above. The letter I appears to the left of the mast and a Tudor rose to the right, serving as flanking devices in the field. The mint mark precedes the reverse legend, which runs clockwise around the periphery in Latin. |
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| Additional information |
The Angel series had been England's prestige gold coinage since Edward IV, and James kept it alive largely for one purpose: the Royal Touch ceremony. Angels — and their half denominations — were distributed by the monarch to sufferers of scrofula, the skin disease believed curable by royal contact. James performed the ceremony reluctantly and reportedly with visible distaste, yet the coins continued to be struck specifically to supply it. By the reign's end, demand from the ceremony outpaced any commercial role the denomination still held.
The second coinage began after a general revaluation in 1612 raised the Angel to ten shillings.