The Angel survived into the early Stuart period largely by institutional inertia — by James I's reign it had ceased to function as a trade coin and existed almost exclusively for the touching ceremony, in which the monarch pressed a gold Angel into the hand of scrofula sufferers as a purported cure. James was personally skeptical of the ritual, reportedly finding it distasteful, yet continued it under pressure from courtiers who understood its political theater. Coins from this ceremonial use were typically pierced for suspension, making unpierced survivors considerably scarcer than raw mintage figures suggest.
The Angel survived into the early Stuart period largely by institutional inertia — by James I's reign it had ceased to function as a trade coin and existed almost exclusively for the touching ceremony, in which the monarch pressed a gold Angel into the hand of scrofula sufferers as a purported cure. James was personally skeptical of the ritual, reportedly finding it distasteful, yet continued it under pressure from courtiers who understood its political theater. Coins from this ceremonial use were typically pierced for suspension, making unpierced survivors considerably scarcer than raw mintage figures suggest.