Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1/2 Crown - William III 1st bust, large shields, early harp
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1696 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Pound sterling (1158-1970) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Four crowned cruciform shields bearing the arms of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, arranged symmetrically around a central escutcheon displaying the Nassau lion rampant. The divided date appears above the central shield, with the early-style harp visible on the Irish shield. A crown surmounts each shield at the angles of the cross, and the full circumferential legend in Latin reads around the border. The design represents the large-shields, early-harp variety characteristic of the 1696 first-issue coinage. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Tower Mint, London |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
William III's half crowns of 1696 were struck under emergency conditions. The Great Recoinage of that year — driven by a catastrophic clipping crisis that had left perhaps half of England's circulating silver coinage underweight — required the mint to operate far beyond normal capacity, with temporary branch mints opened at Bristol, Chester, Exeter, Norwich, and York. The London issue, identifiable by the absence of a mint mark, was the anchor of this operation.
The 1st bust with large shields and early harp is an early die marriage, superseded within the same year as engravers refined the harp proportions on the Irish shield.